KIA
by Kirby's Cowgirl
Summary: When a seriously wounded Kirby loses his dog tags, he sets a chain of events in motion that will change all the squad members lives. This story was finished 12/14, and my computer "bricked" and I lost most of it because my files didn't back up for whatever reason. I said I wasn't going to write it again, but I need to get it out of my head.
1. Chapter 1

_Copyright 12/16 by Kirby's Cowgirl_

 _Fan-Fiction based on TV Show Combat! Copyright Selmur Production, Inc, ABC, Image_

 _Productions etc._

 _Disclaimer: Combat! and its characters do not belong to me, t_ _his WWII story is a piece of fan-fiction_ _and I am not being compensated in any tangible way._

KIA

"Kirby, you're a liar. But damn, that's funny." Bob chuckled again. "I gotta take a leak."

"Stay in the path, kid." Kirby said. He liked the recruit. He didn't think he'd ever been _that_ green. But then he was a street punk. A rustle behind him made him drop into a crouch behind some fallen trees as he swung the BAR to cover the rear.

The explosion rained projectiles, and Bob screamed.

"DOC!" Saunders yelled, as he saw the medic sprinting to the rear. Caje, on the point, spun around and headed in the same direction.

"CAJE!" Saunders grabbed his arm. "Caje, WAIT! The shirt ripped and the scout swung at him. He blocked instinctively.

"Caje, stop it!" Littlejohn said, grabbing him from behind and holding him off the ground. "there's no sense in getting yourself blown to hell too."

Chest heaving, tears streaming down his face, Caje fought Littlejohn hard before McCall laid a gentle hand on him. "Caje, we're gonna help them. You need to calm down."

Caje froze, a look of sheer horror on his face, and slowly nodded.

"Doc!" Saunders yelled. "You stay where you are until we find our way back to you." He looked at Caje worriedly. He couldn't bear to ask.

And then they all heard Doc's voice saying, "Dammit, Kirby, for once in your life, DO WHAT I TELL YOU!"

"He's alive." Caje choked out, and Littlejohn slowly eased him back to the ground, holding the scout until he got his feet back under him.

"We've got to get them and get out of here." Saunders said. "Caje, you and Littlejohn, guard the perimeter. McCall, come on." The two of them started back up the path slowly.

"Sarge, I'm gonna have to carry him." Doc said.

Saunders looked in horror at the piece of shrapnel protruding from Kirby's back. "Can't you pull it out?" he mouthed at Doc.

The medic frantically shook his head, gesturing to what Saunders had figured out. It was too close to Kirby's spinal column. They didn't know how deeply it was embedded.

"I'm ok." Kirby said, "Get me up and I'll walk." Then his voice slurred. "I don't think I can carry my gun though." He stopped, then, "Doc, if I don't make it, please tell Alex that I love her and I'm sorry I screwed up again. And give my money to Candace. I guess I won't get to help you go to school -" and then he passed out.

Saunders and McCall got Kirby draped over Doc's shoulder, and McCall put on the heavy BAR harness.

"Caje, try and get back to HQ and get Hanley to send us a jeep." Saunders said, looking at the scout worriedly. Bob had been carrying the radio, and it was gone with him.

Caje touched Kirby's shoulder gently and then he jogged on ahead.

"I can carry him." Littlejohn told Doc, noting the medic's distress.

"I don't know who I'm supposed to give his money to." Doc choked out. "And he's worried about me going to medical school?"

"Doc, hold on." Saunders said. "You know how fast Caje can run. He'll get us some help." He looked worriedly at Kirby's wound, but it was just seeping a little blood. He was glad the cocky little Irishman had passed out, but if he died - if Kirby died the entire squad would fall apart.

He had once declared William G. Kirby to be the biggest pain in the ass in the world. Now the thought of being without him - He took the point so his men wouldn't see his own tears, told McCall to guard the rear.

He had never thought that Kirby would quit drinking. The day Alex had come by in a convoy and caught him puking his guts out in a ditch had changed everything. McCall had grabbed her when she went after Kirby. She was furious, she had meant to hurt Kirby, and probably would have. And she'd said some really nasty things. All of them were true, but that didn't make them any less mean.

Hanley and Sally had had words that day too. Women had no place in this damn War, Saunders reflected. Sally had very nearly gotten herself in serious trouble when she'd stopped her truck and bolted across the road, yelling at Hanley. Soldiers who hadn't seen a woman in months had all frozen on the road. Saunders had thought for a few seconds that he was going to have to mow down some of them with his Tommy until Hanley had regained order and forcibly shoved Sally back in her truck.

Hanley had been a bear for weeks after that. Saunders knew he was kicking himself over what he'd done. Calling a woman that you loved an _idiot_ was not a good idea when you were alone. The Lieutenant had yelled at her in front of an entire platoon. Sally had cried. Alex had cried too, though Saunders didn't know if she was upset over Kirby or the fact that she'd bloodied McCall's face when he stopped her from murdering the little Irishman.

They hadn't heard from the girls since that awful day. _Every_ mail call before, all the guys in the squad would have _something._ Sometimescookies, with ingredients probably stolen from the officer's mess, and _socks._ The girls always sent socks. A letter from anyone was a tremendous morale booster. The damn woman had sent him a comb, and asked him if he'd ever used one. And all of his mail was addressed to "Blondie Saunders" which the guys thought was a riot.

Saunders gritted his teeth. If Kirby didn't make it, he would have to write Alex and tell her. Knowing the two of them, he doubted that they'd asked permission to get married, which might cause some problems. But even if Kirby was fine - he still had to write Alex a letter. He had to tell her that Kirby had quit drinking, though how long he'd manage to stay on the wagon was anybody's guess. He needed to tell her how much all the guys missed her. Though she could be a highly annoying pain in the ass, she was so much a part of the squad that she may as well have been assigned to it. He felt a twinge in his chest, and absently brushed his scar. If it wasn't for her - If it wasn't for her, his Mother would have had a chaplain knocking on her door. Or gotten an impersonal telegram. He didn't know which they did now, and supposed one was as bad as the other.

Caje skidded the jeep to a stop, dust and gravel flying everywhere, vaulted out to help Doc and McCall carefully put Kirby in the back seat.

"Caje, NO!" Doc said, when he would have gotten back in the driver's seat. "We can't jostle him. We have to go slow and careful."

"McCall, you drive." Saunders ordered. "Littlejohn can barely fit in there. We'll be right behind you."

McCall looked stricken, but he got behind the wheel. Caje fell into step with Saunders and Littlejohn, and none of them said a word all the way back to camp.

Doc and McCall were sitting outside the hospital when they got there and Saunders told all of them to grab something to eat while he reported to Lieutenant Hanley.

"How bad is he?" Hanley asked when Saunders stepped inside the tent the Lieutenant was using as his office.

"I don't think he's gonna die, but he may be paralyzed." Saunders shook out a cigarette, cursing the fact his hands were shaking. Hanley leaned over and lit it for him.

"Thanks." Saunders said absently, tucking his helmet more securely under his arm and running his hand thru his hair.

"Tell the men to grab some chow and get some rest. You can go back out in the morning."

"Bob - damn, I don't even know the kids last name -" he took a drag off his cigarette. He'd asked the kid his name, and hadn't had time to correct him and tell him he meant his _last_ name, before they got caught in a running battle with some Germans.

"Horace Bob was his name. I already wrote to his mother." Hanley sighed. "War is hell, Saunders. It's not your fault."

"Do you have some paper I can have?"

Hanley wordlessly handed him a few sheets and an envelope. Death had a tendency to make a man want to write home folks and say things that they should have said a long time ago. When Caje had burst into his tent, he had thought for one horrified second that Saunders was dead. He needed to write his _own_ Mother a long overdue letter. He wanted to write Sally Tavish and tell her, _what_? "I love you and _I'm_ the one who's an idiot." He would probably do neither.

Saunders walked back to the hospital to find the men exactly where he had left them. "Thought I told you to go eat." He said, noting the dried tears on Doc's face and the strain on the others.

"Kirby's sisters name is Ruthie, right?" Doc asked, looking like he was going to start crying again. When Saunders and Littlejohn nodded, "I don't know who Candace is."

"I don't think you're going to have to worry about that, Doc." Saunders said.

A nurse stepped outside and they all jumped to their feet. "Which one of you is Alex?" she asked.

"Alex is Kirby's wife." Saunders said quietly.

"Oh." The look on the nurses face said that she had thought something completely different, but was still compassionate enough to come and get the _man_ that Kirby had wanted. "Well one of you can come in for a bit and sit with him. He has to be still."

"Caje, why don't you go?" Doc said, then looked to Saunders. He had missed the altercation between the two of them but sensed something was wrong.

"Go ahead, Caje. " Saunders said, wondering if the rapport between himself and the scout was gone forever.

"Thank you, Sarge." Caje said, stumbling to his feet.

"Sergeant, your man lost his dog tags." The nurse said. It wasn't unusual for a wounded man to have a few buddies waiting outside the hospital. But she'd never had an entire filthy squad, plus their Sergeant before. From the looks of them, they hadn't even gone to have a cup of coffee.

"His name's William G. Kirby." Saunders said.

"Blood type O positive." Doc supplied again. He had told them that when he and McCall had carried Kirby inside earlier but hadn't figured they'd just take his word for it.

"Thank you, we already figured that out." The nurse spared him a smile. "Why don't you all go get something to eat?"

…..

McCall looked at Saunders, struggling, trying to write. The Sarge had sat down at a back table with a cup of coffee that he hadn't touched. "Does he do that every time we lose somebody?" he whispered.

"Probably." Doc answered, sadness in his eyes. They'd all heard Saunders crying in his sleep, though none of them would have dared say anything about it. They all had nightmares they wouldn't admit.

"Doc, should I write to Alex again?" Littlejohn whispered, wondering why they were being so quiet, but it just seemed to be the thing to do.

"You wrote to her too?" Doc looked sheepish.

"So did I." McCall said, turning red. He seriously hoped that his letter had gotten lost though. He had had far too much to drink when he wrote it and he thought he'd said some things he shouldn't have.

"Mavis would have killed me if I'd gotten drunk like that." Littlejohn said.

The thought of his petite fiancé clobbering him brought a smile to all their faces.

"Well I'm gonna grab a shower and by then maybe the hospital will tell us something." Doc said.

Saunders vaguely noticed the men leaving as he struggled with the letter. He had to be careful what he wrote so he didn't get any of them into trouble. He had no way of knowing if Alex would even get it. Sighing, he stuffed the paper in the envelope and sealed it. If Kirby wound up paralyzed, he'd have to ask Hanley for some leave so he could go tell Alex in person. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

"Sir? The hospital said that Kirby had lost his tags." Saunders said as he entered Hanley's tent again, dropping his letter in the mail bag.

"I'll take care of it." Hanley said, figuring that Kirby would be going home, and it really wouldn't matter. Damn, he missed Brockmeyer. The Corporal had been wounded several weeks before and was still in the hospital. He had put off trying to find another clerk because he dreaded having to train somebody else.

….

"Lieutenant?" the nurse's voice at Hanley's door, had him jumping to his feet.

"Come in, Sergeant." He said, sliding the packing crate he was sitting on around for her. "I'm sorry I don't have a real chair. What can I do for you?"

"You didn't have to do that, Lieutenant." She said, as she gratefully sat down. "I meant to come by earlier but we've had so many wounded the past few days -" her voice trailed off. "I didn't know if anybody told you that William G. Kirby lost his dog tags. I asked some of the men from the squad his name." Saunders had told her that he would take care of it, but the poor man looked like he needed somebody to take care of _him._ If she'd had the authority, she'd have ordered him to bed.

"Thank you, Sergeant, I've already taken care of that."

"When he first came in, the young man was pretty upset and out of his head, and he made me promise -" she sighed and pulled an envelope from her pocket. "He asked that if he died would I please make sure that this gets to General Taggart. He insisted he knew him personally. It's for a young lady named Candace Jenkins and her baby. I think she's the widow of one of his buddies." She sighed again, and handed him the envelope. "It's six hundred dollars. Please, I can't be responsible for this much money, and he was so insistent I was afraid he was going to hurt himself. I just don't need it disappearing."

"I'll be glad to take care of it until Kirby's better." Hanley said, hoping his shock wasn't registering on his face. The idea of Kirby having that much money and not squandering it - he swallowed hard. It must have been over between Kirby and Alex for him to give the money to another woman. Though Kirby had donated his share of Farley's money order to Brown's widow. He would _never_ figure the Irishman out. "Is there any word yet?"

"It's not unusual for the swelling from a wound like that to take a week to go down. We're still optimistic." She spared Hanley a grin. "I _am not_ going to be the one to tell him he can't have his BAR back."

" I hope I don't have to either." Hanley said. "I'll stop in later."

"Thank you, Lieutenant."

"I'll walk you back to your quarters." Hanley said. He would have sent Brockmeyer. There was no getting around it, he was going to have to train another clerk. Why was it so easy to be a gentleman and do the right thing with this exhausted nurse, when he couldn't be around Sally Tavish for more than five minutes without putting both of his big feet in his mouth? He could not believe he had told the woman she was an idiot.

The nurse stumbled and he caught her arm to keep her from falling. As exhausted as she was, she should have gone straight to her tent. Brockmeyer could have just picked her up and carried her, and if there was any trouble about it, he would have set everybody straight. Sometimes it was a damn pain in the ass being an officer.

He flagged down a jeep of passing MP's. "I need you to drive this lady to her tent and make _sure_ she gets inside." He told the Sergeant who was driving. For just a second he thought the man was going to refuse, but the look on his face must have convinced him otherwise.

"Let me help you, ma'am." The private in the passenger side hopped out and gallantly assisted the nurse into his seat. "It's a real pleasure to get to see a pretty lady after some of these prisoners they make us haul around." He winked at her.

Hanley would have reprimanded him for that if he hadn't seen a little bit of color come back in the nurse's face.

The private climbed into the back of the jeep, and Hanley gave him a stern look. "You walk this lady to her tent, understood?"

"Yes sir."

"If you need anything, you send an orderly next time." Hanley addressed the nurse. "It's not safe for you to be walking thru the camp."

"Thank you, Lieutenant."

….

She had come over here to help fight a War, not be a damn secretary, Alex reflected. The fact that she was a better soldier than any of the recruits and a lot of the seasoned men still rankled. Sally was off on assignment somewhere. At least her cousin got to do _things_ and not be locked inside all the time.

Sally normally typed the KIA lists because it made Alex physically sick to do it. She'd had to stop twice and go and wash her face. After two hours, she was just into the "K's". If Rick was here, he would have found something else for her to do. But she had the awful feeling that Jackson had finally gotten himself killed this time. Lord knows, he'd been trying long enough. He was officially listed as "MIA", and Sally was beside herself.

Her poor cousin was torn between two men. Jackson and Sally were good together, but they weren't good for each other. Alex had long ago figured out that Rick was still in love with his dead wife and would never marry Sally. And she thought Sally would have been okay with just having an affair for the rest of her life. Until that damn Gil Hanley had come along. She was afraid that her cousin _did_ actually love Hanley.

Bull had assigned she and Sally here to keep an eye on the CO, Colonel Perkins. It was common knowledge that he was selling needed supplies on the black market. Bull had told them just to watch and document what he did. He really thought that the man was a Kraut spy. They were to report to Jackson. But no one had come to take his place. Poor Sally actually believed that he was off on a mission that he just hadn't told her about.

Alex almost grinned when she thought about what she and her cousin had done last week. They'd hijacked a truckload of supplies that Perkins had stolen and sold, intending to just burn the truck and leave Perkins to deal with the consequences. But then they'd both thought of the innocent people caught up in this War, the starving women and children, and they'd left the truck several miles from a village.

They'd told one of their maquis contacts that the supplies were theirs, just to be quick with retrieving them. The whole thing had been ridiculously easy. Uncle Bull and Uncle Bob had maybe trained their nieces too well.

She shut her mind off and went back to typing. She had taken an instant dislike to Hanley. He was so damn good looking that he made her teeth ache, and he came from old money. Just like her first husband, Bill. Kirby, for all his faults, was worth at least one hundred Bill Wests. She should _never_ have married Kirby though. But he'd all but dragged her down to the church and crammed the ring on her finger. She did love him, but the whole thing was a mistake.

So many good people had died in this War. Including her dear friends, Beth and Blue, and Cass, and Trish, when their jeep had hit a mine. Beth was nothing but a baby, who'd fled a bad situation at home. And Alex hadn't sent her back. The other women had lost their men fighting in Africa. Wonderful men that they'd loved very much. Kirby was just an irresponsible drunk. He wasn't -

She looked in horror at what she had just typed.

"William G. Kirby, private. Serial number 14327230."

"William G. Kirby. _Kirby!_ Her baby, her BAR man." He could not be dead. He just could not be. She looked at the paper again, tears welling. She had been so nasty to him the last time she'd seen him. But she'd spotted the rest of the squad stopped on the side of the road to let the convoy she was in, pass, and NO KIRBY! She had been terrified he was dead. And then she'd realized, he was hung over, puking his guts out in the ditch, while the guys tried to cover for him, yet AGAIN. She'd let him have it. If Danny McCall hadn't grabbed her, she'd probably have beaten the crap out of him, she was so furious. She'd said some horrid things, though all of them were true, and she certainly should not have said them in front of the entire squad. Poor Danny. She had hit _him._

She grabbed the trash can and threw up. She sat on the floor, gasping for air. She had to get outside. She couldn't breathe. She ran right out in the middle of the busy road, not seeing the oncoming halftrack. Her feet shot out from under her and she fell, and lay there screaming, beating her fists in the mud.

"Lady, you drunk or crazy or what?" the Sergeant piled out of the passenger's seat. He'd thought the truck was going to turn over for about half a second before the green kid driver got it under control. He was at the least, going to shake the woman like a rag doll, even if it lost him his damn stripes, AGAIN.

" Don't you touch her!" one of the kids vaulted over the side of the truck and planted himself in front of Alex.

The big man turned his fury on the private.

"That's the lady that held Bronny's hand when he was dying!" another young soldier ran to stand by his buddy. All the GI's in the truck scrambled out and stood prepared to defend Alex from their Sergeant's wrath.

"Are your hurt, lass?" the big man asked gently, his anger diffused. "Was someone bothering you?" He could think of no other reason for her to run out in the road like that. His squad, nothing but greenies, had gotten separated in a firefight days earlier, and half of them had ended up back at the hospital with the wounded. He'd heard from several of the kids that "an angel" had held Corporal Bronson's hand while he screamed for his wife as he lay dying.

"Her husband's a BAR man." One of the kids said, tears starting.

"Oh, shit!" another young man said, at the same time Private McKay said, "Today's Tuesday."

"And why in the hell would Tuesday be any different from any other day, McKay?" the Sergeant roared, his little bit of patience lost. He could bully raw recruits into fighting men. He could kill Krauts. But what in the hell was he supposed to do with this little slip of a girl?

"The KIA's come out on Tuesday, Sarge." McKay said. "She types them." He choked, "She said it makes her sick. I bet her husband's dead."

Every single one of them took their helmets off and stood at attention and looked at Alex, and then to their Sergeant, who was supposed to tell them what to do.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Did the bloomin' idiots not have enough sense to send a chaplain to talk to the poor girl?" The Sergeant very gently gathered her in his arms. "Back in the truck all of you!" he ordered. "Follow me to the hospital." Only the driver got in the truck, the rest of them trooped behind him thru the mud.

"Ma'am?" the Sergeant called to one of the nurses, "I think you need to sedate this poor girl and make sure she's not hurt."

Nurse Williams looked up from her typewriter and gasped when she saw Alex. "What happened?"

"She ran out in front of our truck." One of the kids said. "Please help her, lady."

"Bring her in here." The nurse gestured to a curtained off area. "Alex?

Can you hear me?" she asked once the Sergeant had very gently laid her on the bed.

"He's dead." Alex said. "He's dead. And it's all my fault." And then she started sobbing again. Then, "Oh, God! I hit poor Danny! And his wife ran off with Jodie!"

"Who's dead?" the nurse looked to the Sergeant. She knew Jackson was listed as MIA, and she knew that he and Alex had had words about him going on a mission alone. The nurses usually knew more about what went on than most of the officers did.

"I believe she just found out her husband is dead." The Sergeant shuffled his feet, embarrassed. "She was very kind to one of my men when he was dying. Please help her, we've got to get back to the front."

Nurse Williams watched him, perplexed, as the entire squad trooped out behind him. She knew Alex's husband had died on Omaha Beach. Unless? She'd heard a rumor that Alex had married an enlisted man, without permission, dismissed it as idle gossip. It must not have been.

She called to another of the nurses and they checked Alex over and tried to wipe most of the mud off her before giving her a sedative.

If Jackson were here, she would have had him notified. Almost everyone in the camp hated their CO, Colonel Perkins. She was not going to tell him _anything_ until she had to. She told one of the orderlies to go and inform the man that Alex was sick and under observation.

The quiet sounds of the hospital woke Alex up. Her head hurt like hell. She knew something was wrong. She was hurt - then she remembered. Kirby was _dead._ Dead, like so many men in this damn War.

"Can I get you anything?" a gentle voice asked.

She looked over at Smitty*. The one armed orderly was the darling of the hospital and she knew he should have been off duty hours ago.

She tried to talk, but her mouth felt like sandpaper, and he leaned over her with a glass of water and a straw.

"Thanks, Smitty." She whispered. "What happened? Did I pass out?"

"You ran out in front of a truck." He looked at her worriedly. "Are you hurt? They tried to check you out, but you were so full of mud -"

"Did I hurt anybody?" Alex asked, horrified.

"No." he shook his head at her. "Your man get himself killed?"

"Yeah." She struggled to sit up, realizing that she _was_ covered in mud. The last thing she remembered was seeing Kirby's name on the KIA list. She put her hands over her face. There was nothing left.

Smitty reached to help her, and she noticed Nurse Williams quick, hurt look before she went back to her paperwork. She _had_ been right. Barbara did like him.

"Is it ok if I go back to my quarters?" Alex asked the nurse. "I'd really like to get a shower." She would, the mud was itching badly.

"Are you alright, Alex?" The nurse got tiredly to her feet. "I told Perkins you were sick. If he gives you any trouble -"

"I can handle, Perkins, Barbara. Thank you." Alex sighed. She had to get back to her quarters so she could be alone before she broke down. "I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble."

"Alex, as much help as you give us, we are all glad to return the favor. Can I do anything for you?"

"There's nothing anyone can do." Alex said tiredly. "But thank you for offering."

"I'll walk you to your quarters." Smitty said, and the way he said it, she knew he wouldn't take no for an answer. He took her arm gently.

"Smitty, I'm filthy, and I stink."

"So I'll grab a shower once I get you home." He looked at her carefully. "What are you going to do? Can I help you?"

She stopped at her door. "Well, you could ask Barbara to the dance."

"I'm enlisted - I can't go -"

"Don't tell me that you don't know that almost all the enlisted men find somebody to dance with in the alley behind the officers club."

"I don't know how to dance." He looked uncomfortable.

"I don't think Barbara will mind in the least as long as you put your arm around her."

"I only have one." Smitty shuffled his feet.

"And half the nurses in the hospital are in love with you, if you haven't noticed. I think Barbara _really_ cares about you though. Give her a chance?"

"I'll ask her. If you tell me what you're going to do."

"I'm going to get a shower." Alex said. "And then I'm going to bed. And tomorrow I'll probably get in trouble with Perkins again, so I'm just going to call Uncle Bull and tell him to find me something else to do."

"You're not going to be here tomorrow." Smitty said, slightly increasing the hold he had on her arm. "You're going to take off and join the maquis."

"No I'm not." Alex said, leaning over and kissing his cheek. "I work better by myself. I'm a damn good sniper. I'm going to kill Kraut officers."

"Alex - you could get killed."

"There's nothing left for me Smitty. It's over." She went inside and leaned against the door for a moment before she headed to the shower. It might be the last one she ever had, and she was going to enjoy it.

….

"Sarge, you've got to get rid of Davidson." Caje said.

Saunders put down his coffee and gave the scout a look that would have had any other man backpeddling.

"Doc's gonna kill him if you don't." Caje shifted on his feet, then blurted, "I'm not gonna stand around and not say something and let one of the best friends I ever had get court martialed because he murdered somebody. That kid, -" referring to the kid who'd been with their squad less than a day and died on their last patrol. He stopped, clenched his fists, and for one _long_ moment, Saunders thought the scout was going to slug him. "Davidson ran over Doc and knocked him down. If Littlejohn and McCall hadn't grabbed him up when they went by, and Billy hadn't gone back and covered them, we would have lost _Doc!_ He was trying to pick up all the supplies that fell out of his rucksack. He didn't have anything to give that kid. I know he was shot to hell, I know he would have died anyway. But Doc could have at least pumped him full of morphine. Do you know?" he stopped, panting, "Do you know that _every_ single time somebody dies, Doc thinks it's his fault?"

Saunders thought he hadn't heard the scout say that many words since before Omaha Beach. "I can't just dump trouble on somebody else, Caje." He said carefully, weighing his words. He knew Davidson was a problem. He didn't fit in and had never made any effort to. Even Littlejohn disliked him, and he'd never known the giant to actively dislike _anyone._ He'd even been his normal friendly self to some of their less threatening Kraut prisoners.

"SAUNDERS!" Hanley's bellow all but shook the mess tent walls.

"Yes sir!" Saunders bolted outside with Caje hot on his heels.

Hanley was standing at the entrance of what had been an alley between two bombed out buildings. Another soldier was turning over a body sprawled in the dirt.

Caje swallowed hard, and then he realized it wasn't Kirby. It was

 _Davidson._ The man was breathing, but he looked to have had the hell beat out of him. Caje clenched his fists. He was too late. He hadn't gotten to Saunders in time -

"Caje, let me see your hands." Hanley said.

"Sir?" Caje asked, confused. Then he realized that the Lieutenant was looking for bloody knuckles. He wished his were. He wished it had been him who had done it. They were going to lose Doc -

"Where's the rest of your squad?" Hanley demanded of Saunders. He knew of the bad blood between all of the men.

"Littlejohn told me he was staying in the shower until it ran out of water or I came to drag him out. I think Billy went with him."

"Doc took Kirby to the hospital to get his foot looked at. McCall went with them." Caje added.

"What's wrong with Kirby?" Saunders asked Caje. He had noticed the BAR man limping, but he hadn't complained. In fact, Kirby hadn't said much of anything lately.

"He got a splinter that Doc couldn't get out." Caje looked distastefully at the soldier who was trying to guilt him into helping him pick up Davidson. "Put him in this." He said, grabbing the handle of a wheel cart. "I'll help you roll him."

"Any idea who could have done this, Saunders?" Hanley asked, as he and the Sarge fell in behind.

"Probably anybody in camp sir." Saunders said, praying that it hadn't been Doc.

McCall was talking to a pretty blonde nurse with a clipboard in her hand. Kirby was sitting in a chair with his bandaged foot propped up on another one, and seemed to be half asleep, even though his BAR was still laying across his lap. And Doc was - not there. Saunders swallowed hard.

"What did you bring me?" the nurse asked. "Well, at least he's not shot." She gestured for Caje and the other private to put Davidson on a table in a curtained off area. Just then, Doc stepped into the hallway, cramming a handful of supplies into his rucksack.

"Let's see your hands, Doc." Saunders said, and then realized he needn't have bothered. Doc would never have contaminated medical supplies.

Doc thrust the last of his gauze in his bag, and then he noticed Davidson. "Wasn't me." He said cheerfully, holding his hands out for Saunders and Hanley to see. "Unfortunately. "

"Kirby." Hanley said.

The Irishman shrugged, and held up his hands. The right one had a filthy bandage on it that some fresh blood had seeped thru.

"I haven't got around to changing that yet." Doc said. "That bandage is three days old, and I had a kid I was trying to keep alive. Kirby doesn't whine over little things. He needs to stay here for a couple days."

"Yes he does." The Doctor who had started to step in to look at Davidson said. "Soldier, just get some of your friends to help you into a bed. I'll check out your hand as soon as I'm done with him."

"Thank you, sir." Kirby said tiredly.

"McCall." Hanley said.

"I wouldn't have wasted my time beating him up. It would have been too damn easy to just shoot him."

"McCall!" Saunders barked.

McCall shrugged. "That _boy_ is a fool and a coward. He damn near shot Caje. He knocked Doc down a couple days ago. We protect our medics, not use them for cover." He held his hands out to Hanley. "Nobody in our squad did it. Nobody would, no matter how much they wanted to. You might want to hunt up the guys he was cheating at poker."

….

Kirby got slowly to his feet as he heard "Mail Call!" None of the other guys in the squad even got up. They had all just stumbled back into camp. He thought that Littlejohn was asleep with his eyes open. Sergeant Hall's squad had just been heading back out, and he'd let them wait for a few seconds to get their mail. _Every_ single one of them got something. McCall had a letter from Marlene. Kirby dug his boot toe in the ground when the jeep driver threw his empty sack in the bag of the jeep. Nothing. _Again._ Alex was done with him, he knew. And it was his own damn fault. But why had his Mother and Ruthie stopped writing? And he knew that Mom K was grieving over Eddie, but she had always been just as much a Mother as his own.

"McCall?" he asked hesitantly.

McCall barely glanced at him as he slit the envelope open. "I'll read it real fast and see if she said anything about Alex." he said. "Oh Shit!" Then he read aloud, "I caught some shrapnel, but I'm ok. I swear if I ever hear another soldier tell me that it's just a little shrapnel, they're fine, I will knock some of their teeth out. This hurts like a bitch. They shipped me almost back to Normandy. Tell Alex what happened and please give her my address if you see her." He looked up at Kirby ruefully.

"I'm sorry your lady got hurt." The BAR man said, and he stumbled as he headed for the showers.

"He's eatin' himself up." Caje said, almost a whisper.

"Alex is dead." McCall said, his voice just sad and defeated. "There's no way she abandoned all of us. She wouldn't have gone home without Littlejohn. So she has to be." He gave a long sigh. "I hope to hell that I'm not around when somebody finally comes to tell Kirby that his wife and his kid sister are dead." He struggled to his feet. "And poor Marlene. All she wanted to do was help."

Caje gave Doc a panicked look. He plainly didn't know what to say or do. But now that McCall had finally voiced what all of them feared, they had to face it.

"Littlejohn?" he said, shaking the giant's shoulder. "Let's grab a shower before they throw us back out there."

"Huh?" the big man jolted awake.

"Save some hot water for me." Doc said, and managed to grin. He didn't think that McCall would have said what he had if Littlejohn had been awake.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant." Doc said, as he stepped into Hanley's CP.

"What can I do for you, Doc?' Hanley asked, putting down his paperwork and scrubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Sir, I know you have enough to worry about, but the mail just isn't coming thru." Doc sighed. "I know ALL of our families didn't just stop writing us. The men depend on the news from home to keep them going. Kirby hasn't had any mail in over a month."

"Doc, I can't get involved in Kirby's love life." Hanley sighed. Who was he kidding? He couldn't even manage his own.

"He hasn't heard from his sister since his friend Eddie was killed. And now his Mother and Eddie's Mom have stopped writing him too."

"I'm sorry, Doc, I'm not following you." Hanley said, thinking he could lie down and sleep for a month. He was so _damn_ tired. How was he supposed to obey orders and protect his men when his brain wouldn't even function?

"Caje's afraid -" Doc stopped and swiped at his eyes. " All of us

are scared that Ruthie did something stupid and they don't know how to tell him." He didn't dare say anything about Alex. He figured that Hanley probably knew she and Kirby were married, but as long as they hadn't come out and flaunted it, he could ignore it.

" _Did something stupid?"_ Hanley asked. What in the heck was Doc trying to say?

"We think she might have killed herself." The tears were leaking down Doc's face now and he didn't bother to hide them. "She and Eddie were together almost as long as Littlejohn and Mavis have been. Kirby said Eddie was her whole life. They were going to live in Paris after the War and she was _takin' French lessons!"_

"Oh shit." Hanley said quietly. "I'll have the Red Cross check on his family, Doc. It'll take awhile." When the medic just stood there looking at him, "I'm sorry, that's all I can do."

"Lieutenant, when have you had any sleep?"

Hanley shrugged. "I'm alright, Doc. You worry too much. About everything. Get some rest yourself."

Saunders came in a few minutes after Doc had left. He'd had a few quiet words with Sergeant Hall while they waited on the mail, and seen all his men's disappointment.

"I have a question for you." Hanley dropped his pencil. "Do you think your friend Jackson could have gone rogue?"

"Anything's possible, I guess."

"Jampel wanted me to ask anyone who had been in Africa with him what they thought the chances of him being "The Ghost" were?"

"I thought that was just a rumor." Saunders said. He'd first heard about The Ghost one night when he and the guys had stopped in the bar. Supposedly, the man was a sniper who just shot Kraut officers, and disappeared without a trace. He hadn't put much stock in the story.

"There is a Ghost." Hanley said. "It may be somebody in the maquis."

"Jackson doesn't have the patience to be a sniper." Saunders said, then he chuckled, "Maybe it's Alex." He looked horrified as soon as the words left his mouth. He didn't have a clue where they had come from. And he was so damn exhausted that he was punchy.

"I doubt that Captain West -" the look on Saunders face stopped him. "You're serious."

"She's more than capable." Saunders swiped his hand across his eyes tiredly. "A woman would make a really good sniper. And we haven't heard from Alex lately."

"Jackson is MIA."

"How about the girls?" Saunders asked instantly.

"I don't know anything about Alex and Sally."

"Either one of them -" Saunders stopped. "It could be either one of them. Or _both_ of them. Or somebody in the maquis."

"I'll let Jampel know." Hanley said.

"The guys are afraid -" Saunders stopped, sighed. "Never mind."

"That Ruthie killed herself." Hanley finished for him.

"Did Caje come and tell you?"

"Doc did." Hanley picked up his pencil, put it down again. "All I can do is have the Red Cross check on Kirby's family. I don't have a clue how I can ask about Captain West and Miss Tavish without getting all of us in hot water."

….

Alex had known it would be hard. Tall Feather had trained her to turn her mind off years ago, and just soldier on. He'd taught she and Candace how to kill too, though none of them had ever thought they would need to know how. She'd killed so many Krauts she'd lost count.

She hoped that Kirby had died instantly and that the SS hadn't tortured him. She had no way of knowing. She didn't even know if the entire squad was dead.

The light snow made things more difficult. She could obscure her tracks, and make them look like a deer or hare path. She remembered poor Kirby being afraid of rabbits. That seemed so long ago.

She eased her position in the tree. There was an SS Captain with this squad, along with a Lieutenant. She would get both of them, she decided, hugging the tree branch. She usually only shot officers and laid low until the rest of the Germans had moved on. She killed the Captain with one shot, sighted in on the Lieutenant, and something hit her right arm so hard she nearly dropped her rifle. Her shot went wild as she scrambled down the tree, shots zinging all around her. She crawled into the deep thicket, brambles tearing at her clothes. Blood was pouring out of her arm, and even as she wrapped a scarf around it, and gritted her teeth against the pain, she realized suddenly that she didn't _want_ to die. She just wanted _to go home._

But she'd gotten herself into this mess. She'd take as many Krauts with her as she could. She was not staying alive to be tortured by the SS.

The Krauts were yelling, and somebody gave an order to fire into the thicket. She couldn't move very quickly, and she needed to be still. Someone else barked out an order and she heard shuffling, crying, and a hard crack like someone had gotten slapped across the face.

The Lieutenant must have taken charge. _What was he saying?_ The sniper had fallen from the tree, dead, or dying. They were low on ammo and didn't need to waste more on him. They didn't know how many more Americans were in the area. He told someone to pick up the Captain's body respectfully. Barked out something that she didn't quite understand to someone else. And then she heard them leaving.

Her hair was caught in the brambles and she sawed it off, not realizing that she'd knicked herself with her bayonet. She was so tired and dizzy. Her arm was still leaking blood. She crawled until she passed out. And she was lucky that it was a group of maquis who found her.

The French voices made her think of home. She had no idea that this branch of maquis had family in the village that she and Sally had given the truck load of food to. The starving children's faces had even bothered Sally. She'd certainly never thought that anybody would remember her. But the booty she'd given them had fed their families for weeks.

…

"Alex, what have you done?" Sally asked her, then realized that her cousin wasn't conscious. The maquis had dug the bullet out of her arm, she had a nasty wound on the back of her neck that looked like she'd been stabbed, and somebody had cut all her hair off. She'd lost so much weight that her ragged clothes were hanging on her.

"You are not going to die, damn you." Sally said. She had been surprised when two women had come into camp, and specifically asked to see _her._ They'd told her that Alex was hurt and needed medicine. She was surprised that they remembered her. She still didn't quite realize that the food that she and Alex had given them had literally been the difference between life and death for some of them.

….

Alex looked in absolute horror at the t-bone steaks, real mashed potatoes and corn, on the fine china. The chilled wine in her glass. If she didn't get out of here, she was going to turn the entire table over and have a screaming fit. The men in the trenches were starving. Her damn father -

It must have been the blood loss from her wounds that finally made her give in to Sally and agree to come here. She didn't care if she never saw her father again. In fact, she had seriously hoped that he'd be killed in the War. As far as she was concerned, he was as evil as Hitler. But she loved her baby sister, Patty, and wanted to see her.

She gritted her teeth, and then she felt the hand on her thigh. "Do you ever get lonely?" The Captain next to her asked. She'd already forgotten his name.

She just looked at him in shock. Even _Kirby_ wasn't that bold, and he had been pretty daring.

"A woman like you who's used to having a husband -" his voice broke off and he gulped, reaching for his side.

Alex hadn't even realized that she'd cut him until she felt the knife in her hand. She hadn't stabbed him with her dinnerware either. She'd used a knife that Tall Feather had given her that was always in her pocket. She didn't remember getting it out.

She picked up her untouched steak, snatched Patty's cleaned off t-bone off her plate as she passed by.

"Alex, sit down!" her father ordered.

"Go to hell, you son of a bitch!" Alex shot back at him as she left the tent.

The cook was burning garbage in a barrel, and the dogs she'd seen hanging around the camp were wagging their tails at him. She tossed the steak to one of them and the bone to the other.

"Ma'am! You didn't have to do that!" The cook lowered his voice, stepped a little closer to her. "I feed them. They eat pretty well." He looked at her worriedly. "Did you not like the food?"

 _She could not get the poor man in trouble with her damn father._ "I lost my husband, and I can't - I can't -" the excuse worked on everyone, she'd found. For anything she needed to use it for.

"I'm very sorry, ma'am."

And what was so sad, was that he really was. And he didn't even know her.

"I'll get you a chair so you can sit out here. It's not too bad by the fire."

"I'm alright." Alex said, but he'd already darted back into the cook tent.

"I've got strawberry shortcake for dessert if you feel like it."

Alex thought she was going to scream. She bet there was real damn whipped cream on it too. How long ago had it been that McCall had given her the only can of Spam that he had, because she was hungry?

When he was hungry himself, and knew exactly what he could have gotten for a can of Spam.

"I'm sorry." The cook said again. "You can throw the rest of this paper in the fire if you want to. Don't get too cold." And then he went back inside.

Alex sank down in the chair and both of the dogs curled up against her feet with their bones. She chunked a handful of correspondence in the fire, and idly glanced at it. _The letter on the top was addressed to her, and it was from Kirby!_

Frantically, she stuck her hand in the fire and scooped a handful of letters out, not noticing that she'd burned herself and that her jacket was on fire. She kicked some dirt over them, and watched as Kirby's letter turned to ash and disintegrated. The wail that came from her throat had both dogs jumping to their feet, and the larger one jumped on her and tried to lick her face.

 _What had Kirby told her? That he still loved her and he was sorry?_

 _Or that he wanted a divorce, and the whole thing had been a mistake?_

Now she would never know. She was going to murder her father.

"Alex!" Sally grabbed her and shoved her entire arm down in the emergency water bucket that was sitting by the fire. "What in the hell have you done?"

"The son of a bitch took my mail." Alex said, suddenly realizing that her hand hurt badly. "I'm going to kill him." She jerked free from Sally, then leaned down and picked up the scorched letters. One from Danny. One from Doc. One from Jimmy. And even one from Blondie. They'd _all_ written her to tell her about Kirby.

"Alex!" Sally grabbed her arm frantically. "Alex! You can not shoot him in front of Patty! That would destroy her! Stop and think a minute!" When Alex swallowed hard, and gritted her teeth, she said, "Look, they want us to sing for the guys. Spread some Christmas cheer. Help me with this assignment, and I'll help you kill your father later, when we won't get caught."

"I can't carry a tune in a bucket." Alex growled.

"It's a cover. They want you and I to watch Lorraine, do you remember her?"

"The redhead whore?"

"She's a Kraut spy." When Alex didn't say anything, "I think she may have been the one who got Kopacheck killed."

"I'll gut her like a fish."

"Alex, no!" Sally caught hold of her arm again. "We need to find out who she reports to. There are plenty of Kraut sympathizers in the ranks. We need to find as many of them as we can and get them eliminated."

"No." Alex said, shaking her head. "I will not risk Patty. She's all I've got left."

"There will be a guy from S2 with us." When Alex shook her head again, "A good guy. A competent guy. You'll like him."

Alex just kept shaking her head.

"Alex, he wouldn't sleep with me." Sally said, and looked embarrassed. "I've never had -" she stopped.

"You've never had anybody turn you down before." Alex said, knowing it was true. And while she didn't approve of some of the things that her cousin did, Sally was not the tramp that she'd been branded.

"Patty will be perfectly safe with us to watch her. Probably safer than she'd be in the hospital."

"I told her to stay in England." Alex said. "And I still can't sing."

"We're back up. Two gorgeous redheads in the front, a blonde and a brunette in the back. Most of the men won't even notice us. It'll work, Alex."

"And as soon as it's over, I'm going to kill my father." Alex said thru clenched teeth. "And then I'm going home. The hell with this damn War."

"The hell with this damn War." Sally agreed. "Let's get your hand looked at."

Alex let Sally lead her into the hospital tent. "Did one of those damn dogs knock you down?" A harried looking Doctor demanded. "I'll have them shot."

"You hurt those dogs and I'll kill you." Alex growled, and she wasn't kidding.

"She tripped and fell." Sally said. "It wasn't the dogs fault. They just jumped on her and licked her when she was on the ground. I can't get her to eat anything since her husband died, and she's upset." She gave the Doctor a beseeching look.

"Let me see your hand." The man said, and he winced almost as bad as Alex did when he took her wrist. "Nothing we can't fix right up." He said, but the look he gave Sally said something different.

Sally sat down next to Alex on the bed and wrapped an arm around her cousin's waist. She felt Alex's sharp intake of breath as the Doctor dressed her hand, and watched the silent tears rolling down her face in dismay.

"Alex, are you alright?" Patty demanded, stepping inside the tent. "What did that damn Lieutenant do to you? " Seeing the tears on her big sister's face. "I'll go shoot the son of a bitch."

Alex tried to laugh, but it came out as a strangled sob. "I'm 'kay." She managed. "Just clumsy."

"He was a Captain, and if anybody shoots him, it'll be me." Sally said, giving the Doctor a glare that let him know that he _was not hearing this conversation._

Alex had never been clumsy in her life. A woman who jumped from the top of a stagecoach to the back of a horse that was galloping by had to be good on her feet. Patty knew that her big sister and her cousin were hiding something from her, _again._ Well, as upset as the two of them were over their men, she'd let them get by with it this time.

"Patty, stay here with Alex. I need to find a tree." Sally said, and waited until her cousin sat down next to Alex in her place before she headed out of the tent. Alex hadn't gone thru the trash can. She'd only seen the letters from _her guys_ that she'd partially burnt. She broke into a jog.

The trash can was sitting where they'd left it, and she grabbed a handful of mail out of it. _Letters from Alex,_ written to everybody on the ranch. _Letters to Mom West, who was one of the finest women Sally had ever met in her life._ Who considered Alex a daughter, and loved her dearly. Sally pawed frantically thru the trash. And there was an entire stack of mail _from the ranch_ , tied with string. Alex's father had intercepted ALL of her mail.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" A voice demanded. "That's classified correspondence."

The next letter that Sally pulled from the trash was addressed to _her!_ And it was from Kate, back at the ranch.

"That's funny." Sally said, standing up, glaring at the Captain. "This is addressed to _me!_ I'd really like to know how it wound up here!"

"Throw all of that in the fire, NOW!" he ordered, reaching down to grab the pile of mail she'd scattered on the ground.

"I wouldn't do that." Sally said, pressing her pistol against his head.

"They'll hang you if you shoot me." The Captain bluffed.

"All I have to do is scream for help and every man in this camp will kill you." Sally said sweetly.

"No one would believe _you."_ He said with a sneer.

"Probably not." Sally said. "But you can bet they'll believe Alex and Patty. When you got fresh with Alex and she wouldn't have it, you went for the easy thing. I may be _easy,_ but I wouldn't have anything to do with _you."_

"Ma'am? Is everything alright?" A voice asked hesitantly from behind her.

She glanced to see the cook holding a shovel at the ready to brain the Captain with, and she wondered how much he'd heard.

"Do you have any of those strawberries left?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am."

"Do you think I could have some of them to try and bribe my cousin to eat with?"

"Yes ma'am." He said, watching the Captain intently. "Are you alright?"

Sally knew that he would beat the Captain to death with the shovel whether they court martialed him for it or not. She didn't know why it made her want to cry.

"Put that shovel down and get back in your cook tent. I'll deal with you later." The Captain growled.

"Oh, hell, I'll just shoot you." Sally said. He was an ass. God knows what he'd have done to the poor cook, who had only tried to help _her._

He'd upset Alex. Rick was dead. Hanley didn't want her - She didn't realize that she was crying.

"I think that's enough." A quiet voice said. "Miss Tavish, did this man hurt you?"

"He put his hands on Alex." She said. "Can I not just shoot him?"

"This is none of your business, Corporal." The Captain growled. "I'll have you court martialed -"

"I'm not a Corporal." Benny almost whispered, as he ripped the Captain's bars from his shirt. "I'm just _pretending_ to be one today."

Sally backed a step away, but still kept her gun in her hand.

"I'll get you your strawberries, if you're sure everything is alright." The cook said, slowly lowering his shovel.

"Thank you." Sally said. After he went back in the cook tent, "We have to take him with us. And the dogs -" She shot a worried look at the Captain. "He'll -"

"He'll be on the front line or he'll be in Leavenworth." Benny said.

Two soldiers silently appeared and hoisted the suddenly quiet former Captain to his feet. "Just throw him in the back of the truck for now." Benny said.

"Ma'am, here's your strawberries." The cook said, offering her a small bag. He shook out a larger sack. "I can put the mail in this for you?"

"Thank you." Sally said, taking the strawberries as he knelt down and scooped up all the mail.

"I can't read." The man said, from under her feet. "I just burn what they tell me to. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Benny said. "Grab your gear and those dogs, because you're moving out."

"Sir?" The Cook, evidently much smarter than the former Captain asked.

"Get a move on it, Sergeant. I don't have all day." Benny said, but there was no bark to his voice.

"I'm not a -" The Cook's voice trailed off. "Thank you, sir. My wife will be very proud." He handed Sally the sack full of mail and headed for the cookshack.

"Benny -" Sally started.

Benny gestured for her to put her gun away, and caught hold of her arm. "I'll get him as far to the rear as I can." He said quietly in her ear. "How are you going to tell Alex about?" he gestured to the bag of mail.

"Could you take Patty to get a Coke or something? She needs to get to know you anyway, and Alex needs to rest. Maybe I can give her some pain medication before I tell her about the mail." Sally bit her lip suddenly. "God, Kate wrote to _me!_ Kate doesn't like _me!_ What if something's happened to Mom West?"

"Sit down." Benny said, pushing her down on the tailgate of a truck they were walking by. "Read your letter, and we'll work out what to do." When he saw how Sally's hands were shaking, he took the envelope from her hands and slit it open with his knife before he handed it back to her.

"Oh." Sally said, tears sliding down her cheeks. "They figured it out. They're all smarter than I am. I was so tied up with my own problems that I didn't -' she broke off on a sob, cleared her throat hard, and then said, "They knew her Dad had to be taking all the mail. Kate thought maybe a letter would get thru to me, and she said that everyone on the ranch was ok, but Mom West needed to know about Alex."

"Sally, I'm sorry -" Benny started.

"We have more important things to focus on than the mail. I know." She gave him a rueful look.

"We all have to do things that we don't like."

"God, are they going to make you sleep with Lorraine?"

"Even _I_ have standards." Benny said, and winked at her.

She laughed in spite of herself, and for just a second he hugged her against him before he helped her off the tailgate.

"How about a Coke, ladies?" A voice called from outside their tent.

Sally opened the flap. "Come on in. This is Benny." She said to Alex and Patty. "He's going to look after us while we sing."

"This is _cold!"_ Patty said in disbelief, as she handed Alex a drink. "Thank _you."_ She said to Benny.

"Would you like to take a walk with me ma'am? I can show you the truck you'll be riding in and introduce you to your driver."

Patty cast a worried look at Alex. "Sally will look after me." Her sister said.

"Sure." Patty said, smiling at Benny. She knew her big sister and cousin were up to something _again._ She wished that they didn't think they had to protect her.

"That's good." Alex said, after taking a swallow of Coke. She held out an envelope to Sally. "I can't get this open."

Sally carefully slit the envelope open with her knife. It was a little scorched, and the paper was fragile, but looked like it might still be readable. She wondered why her cousin was starting with a letter from Danny McCall.

"Are you sure that you want to know how Kirby died?"

Alex unfolded the letter and then she choked. She waved off Sally when her cousin reached for her. The noise that came from her throat sounded like a cross between a laugh and a sob. "He must have been drunk when he wrote this. I think he asked me to marry him."

"Alex -" Sally started, then made herself stop. If the squad had lost their BAR man, it was a good bet that some of them were gone as well. She wasn't going to say it out loud.

"If we make it thru -" Alex's eyes started to cross, and she seemed confused. "If we both make it thru this damn War, I'll take him home with me."

"Alex, do you love him?"

"I love all of them." Alex blinked back her tears. "They're family. They're probably all dead too, aren't they? Oh, God, poor Mavis! I didn't keep Jimmy safe for her! I -" The letter fell from her hand, and she collapsed back on her pillow. Sally rescued the Coke from her cousin's hand before she dropped it. "Damn." Alex managed. "I wanted that."

Sally propped Alex up on some pillows and carefully gave her another swallow of Coke.

"That tastes so good." Alex said. "I wondered if I was ever going to have another one." Tears were leaking down her face.

"Alex -" Sally started.

"He took all the mail, didn't he?" Alex looked at her ruefully. " I told myself maybe they'd said sensitive things and the censors just chunked it -"

"Do you want me to read you some letters? I can find the oldest one and start with it."

"Not right now." Alex took another swallow of Coke. "And you're right, I don't want to know how Kirby died. I _need_ to read those, but -"

"I'll read them later if you want."

"Maybe." Alex bit her lip. "God, what if Jimmy's dead? I'm supposed to be the matron of honor in his wedding and I've never methis fiancé. Blondie's going to be the best man, and Kirby was an usher. What am I going to tell that poor girl if Jimmy's dead?"

Sally didn't bother to tell Alex that if Jimmy was dead, that the _poor girl_ in question had probably already gotten a telegram, and she wouldn't have to tell her anything. Alex tried to wipe her face and couldn't raise her hand to do it.

Sally wiped her face for her, and a few seconds later, Alex was asleep.

….

"I'm not a liability." Patty said to Benny.

"Where did that come from?"

"I can shoot. I qualified expert. I had to work at it, I'm not as good as my sister, but I can shoot."

"Good." Benny said, and winked at her. "You can protect me."

She laughed in spite of herself. She liked him. He was good looking and funny, and nice. "You're not going to tell me what we're really doing, are you?"

"Singing for the men to improve morale."

"Bull shit." Patty said, and watched him turn purple at her language.

"Singing for the men to improve morale." Benny repeated. "And your sister doesn't want to do it. I think she got herself into some trouble, and your cousin is trying to get her out of it."

"Oh." Patty said thoughtfully, taking another sip of Coke. She wondered how much Benny knew. She _knew_ he wasn't a Corporal, she'd seen a couple of men _almost_ salute him and then quaver at the glare he gave them. She was pretty sure that Alex had been the sniper that they'd called "The Ghost", and didn't understand why her sister would be in trouble for killing Krauts. Except that she was a woman. And a much better shot than most men. "Do you think we could find where they buried Alex's husband?"

"There's a map of the Normandy cemetery. They can tell you exactly where he is."

"Her second husband." At the look on his face, "How much do you know?"

"Sorry, ma'am, I'm not at liberty to disclose that."

"Well if Alex is in trouble because she married an enlisted man, and he's already dead, why is she still in trouble? Should I try and call Uncle Bull?"

"I don't think we need to trouble General Taggart."

"But could we find her husband's grave?"

"Probably not." At the look on her face, "I'm sorry ma'am. It would be behind the lines and it might not even be marked. After all this is over, it might be possible, but not NOW."

"It might just make her feel worse anyway." Patty said quietly. Then, "Thank you for the Cokes. I don't know how you got them, but it was really nice of you."

….

"What was your husband like, Alex?" Lorraine asked, as the two of them gathered up clothing for a trip to the showers.

"He was a troublemaking drunk who was always getting in fights and spending time in the brig." Alex answered her. She _did not_ want to talk about Kirby. She especially did not want to talk about the little Irishman with _Lorraine._

"Sheesh. I'm sorry I asked." Lorraine said, and shot Sally a bewildered look.

"Why did Alex marry him if he was like that, and why don't you leave me by myself with Lorraine?" Patty asked when Alex and the redhead had left.

"Because Lorraine is liable to be in bed with three soldiers when we come back." Sally said, laughing. There was no way in hell she was going to tell the girl the truth. Alex had changed so since Kirby died, that it was amazing that she hadn't tortured any information that Lorraine had out of her. Sally had already made up her mind that if Lorraine posed any threat to Patty at all, she would kill the spy herself.

"What if _I_ wanted to be in bed with three soldiers?" Patty teased back.

"Alex would shoot them." Sally said, instantly sobering. "Please don't do anything stupid, she couldn't deal with it right now."

"What about Kirby? She didn't even tell me she got married again -"

"She couldn't tell anybody, Pats. The guy could have gotten court martialed."

"So he must have loved her!"

"Yeah. I think he worshiped the ground she walked on. And he did drink too much, but I think he would have stopped after the War. And I know she loved him, that's why she won't talk about him."

"Is there a picture of him in that box she's got?"

"I don't think she has a picture of him." Sally said.

"Hey Sally!" Benny called from outside the tent. "You decent? I need to talk to you!"

"What's up, Benny?" Sally asked as she walked outside.

"They want us to go to a hospital next." He was watching her carefully for her reaction.

She shrugged. "Singing is singing."

"Is Alex going to be able to handle that? She just lost her husband, and some of these guys are pretty damaged. And Rick's still MIA -"

"Rick's _dead."_ She interrupted him, and shook her hands at him when he started to protest. "He's _dead._ You need to stop pretending. That just makes it worse. He and Kirby are both dead. They're not comin' back." Her voice broke and she turned away from him.

"I didn't mean to upset you." Benny said in his quiet Georgia drawl. "I'll tell them to route us somewhere else."

"No." Sally said firmly, swiping at her face. " Some of those guys aren't going to make it and maybe seeing Lorraine and Patty and hearing them sing will make them feel better."

Benny didn't tell her that she and Alex were hugely popular themselves. He'd had some men come up to him after the performance and tell them how much they appreciated them singing when it was so obvious they'd just lost their own men. It never ceased to amaze him how perceptive some people were while others were totally oblivious.

The first time their young mechanic had caught Alex under the hood of the truck, he'd complained to Benny that she didn't trust him. Then he'd realized that she knew what she was doing. Now it was nothing to see Alex, the driver, and the mechanic all checking out the truck together. Years of being on the road with the Wild West show had taught Alex what to look out for. She had no idea that the two young men were also in S2.

As soon as her cousin slipped out of the tent, Patty ran and opened Alex's trunk. She grabbed the sack that her sister had tied shut with ribbon, and carefully opened it, expecting to find some of Kirby's things. She'd seen the pain on Alex's face every time she touched the sack. The bundle of letters inside totally confused her. Alex had written all those letters home and _not mailed them?_ Then she realized a few of them had been opened. _The censors. The censors had taken all of Alex's mail!_ But she was an officer. They weren't supposed to. And how had she gotten the letters back? And why was she keeping them when it obviously pained her so much? Hearing someone coming, Patty stuffed the sack back in the trunk. She didn't notice the bundle of letters from the ranch, or the charred letters on the bottom that were addressed _to_ Alex.

….

"Thank you ." The Captain said to Patty after their performance. "You have no idea how much that meant to the men." It was almost Thanksgiving, and many of them were longing for home. Many of them would never _get_ home. They would die in one of these God forsaken tents in this awful place. The Doctor swallowed hard and looked at the other girls walking thru the beds, speaking to all the men, shaking hands. The two back up singers had been so badly off key he wondered why they had even bothered with them. The brunette stumbled and would have fallen if the blonde hadn't grabbed her arm.

"She lost her fiancé. We can't get her to eat." Patty said, looking at Sally worriedly. "And my sister just lost her husband. They're both having a hard time."

"Is there anything I can do?" He should have guessed, but he was so damn tired that nothing made sense anymore.

Patty started to shake her head. Then she thought of Alex's letters. "Could you mail something for me?" She quickly explained.

"Son of a bitch." The Doctor said, then immediately apologized.

"That's what I thought." Patty said. "She's an officer. They're not even supposed to open her mail. And it's letters to her mother in law and family. You can look at them if you want, I know she wouldn't have said anything she wasn't supposed to."

"I'll be glad to take care of it for you." The man was gritting his teeth. He _would_ mail the box, and he was going to get in touch with Jack Bridges, the Surgeon General, afterwards.

Alex saw Patty leaving the tent with the Captain. Her sister wasn't a baby anymore. Bull had taught her how to look after herself too. It wasn't any of her business what Patty did. She had so hoped that Patty would marry Doc though. And now… Now she didn't even know if any of them were alive.

"Ma'am?" One of the men gently touched her hand. "I'm sorry you lost your husband."

"What?" Alex asked, blinking back her tears.

"You should go home." He said in the same kind voice. "It was real nice of y'all to come and sing for us, but you shouldn't be here. You need to go home."

"I'm alright." Alex said firmly.

" _She's_ not." He said, looking at Sally.

"I know." Alex said sadly.

"You need to go home." He said again. "Go for me, because I'm not gonna make it." Alex started to shake her head at him, and he squeezed her hand.

She sat down on his cot and put her arms around him, and he very awkwardly hugged her back.

….

"Pull up a chair, old man!" A familiar voice called when Saunders stepped into the bar.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Saunders asked Sergeant Hall as he sat down next to him. He looked around for the rest of his friend's squad, but didn't see them.

"I'm in charge of what's left of Hallahan's squad. They got shot to hell, they don't know if he's going to make it."

"Shit." Saunders said. He hated this damn War. He hated when good men died for what, sometimes, felt like nothing.

"Grady drug him a mile and a half back to the aid station, part of it under fire. He got a promotion out of it, and he may get a Silver Star." Hall took a swallow of beer and grinned at Saunders. What he _didn't_ say, was that for _three_ days until reinforcements had arrived, he'd commanded Hallahan's squad and his own. And been nominated for a Silver Star himself. "Can you believe it?"

"No." Saunders said truthfully. "Who's running your squad?"

"Grady."

Saunders choked on the swallow of beer he'd just taken, and Hall laughed out loud. "Yeah." He said, then sobered. "Getting married is probably the best thing that could ever have happened to him."

"He's ok, then?"

"Doing really well. Staying out of trouble. He worries me. The other guys go out and raise hell and he stays in camp and writes to his wife."

Both of them shook their heads.

They sat in silence for awhile and drank, and then Hall said, "Don't suppose you got to hear the lady singers they call Quatro?"

"We've been too close to the front to see any ladies." Saunders said.

"Those women are all lookers." Hall said. "Of course none of them are as pretty as my wife." He looked rueful. "I heard that two of them had lost their men and they're still out there trying to spread Christmas cheer for us grunts."

"That takes some guts." Saunders said.

"There's some guy that they call "The Ghost" and he's been takin' out Kraut officers and disappearing without a trace. Doin' a good job too."

"Hanley asked me if I thought it was Jackson, but I told him -"

"Jackson doesn't have the patience to be a sniper." Hall finished for him. "I sat in on a briefing with Jampel last week. I don't know why they're so worried one of us has gone rogue. Hell, I'd buy the guy a beer."

…

The girls settled into an easy routine, and the weeks flew by. Their assignment had been to sing until the week of New Year's, and this was their last gig. They hadn't been able to catch Lorraine doing anything she shouldn't have, and Alex was beginning to wonder if Sally had made the entire thing up about her being a spy. Benny had started riding in the back of the truck with them. Sometimes they played cards or Monopoly. Alex had no idea what that game must have cost Benny on the black market.

She looked up from the Ranch Life Magazine she was reading. Gifted to her by Benny, she was sure it hadn't been cheap. Sally was reading a fashion magazine. Lorraine was painting her fingernails. Patty and Benny were bent over a map, discussing something.

 _Benny was in love with her baby sister._ And she was pretty sure that Patty was starting to fall in love with him. She'd have to ask Sally later. She'd buried two husbands, and she still didn't know a damn thing about men. She had so wanted Patty to marry Doc, but that was never going to happen now. Benny was kind and good, and almost as funny as Kirby. She bit her lip. She was going to tell Uncle Bull that she wanted Benny assigned near Patty when she went back to her hospital duties. She would give them that much help. And then whatever happened, would.

The machine gun fire made all of them hit the floor. Lorraine let out a cussing fit when she spilled nail polish all over herself and started trying to mop it up. Alex and Benny grabbed weapons and crawled to the rear of the truck. Sally crawled to the front of the truck and unsnapped the canvas flap that separated them from the driver so that she could see. Patty grabbed a rifle and crawled behind Alex and Benny.

The German half track cut loose again, and the truck in front of them veered out of control and turned over.

"We're making a run for it!" Chris, their driver shouted, and he turned hard to the left, using the overturned truck as partial cover. The truck bounced thru the field. Alex and Benny poured it on, both of them firing at the half track tracks, trying to disable it. A motorcycle and sidecar joined the chase, staying behind the half track and out of range.

Sally crawled back and helped Patty reload. There wasn't enough room for three of them to shoot in the back of the truck. Lorraine sat in the floor and cried. The half track was raking them with bullets and there was a sudden hiccup before the truck started again.

"Sally!" Alex yelled, knowing their driver must be hit.

Sally was already crawling for the front of the truck and she dove thru the canvas window into the seat. Chris was barely hanging onto the wheel. He had a huge hole in his chest and blood was leaking out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry, Miss Sally." He said. Then he opened the door and fell out.

"NO!" Sally screamed as she dove under the wheel. She felt the crunch as the rear tires ran over him. She couldn't move the seat forward and she couldn't reach the gas sitting down. She chanced a glance at Paul, their mechanic, and realized that he was dead.

She saw some buildings in the distance and jerked the truck onto the semblance of road leading to them. They needed some better cover if they were going to survive this. The road made a sudden sharp turn and Sally fought the wheel frantically. The truck started to roll. She got her arm caught thru the steering wheel and screamed as she felt it snap.

The impact threw Alex and Benny out of the back of the truck into the mud. The motorcycle sidecar rider was spraying them with bullets and Alex dimly realized that she was hit. Benny wasn't moving and she thought he was dead. Her rifle was full of mud and useless. She stuck her hand thru the inside flap in her coat, silently thanking Mama for being an excellent seamstress who thought of everything, and shot the Kraut with her .45 revolver. The driver had jumped into the truck and grabbed Lorraine, who was screaming at him in German that "she was on HIS side!" Alex shot him in the head, wondering why she had bothered.

"Patty!" she screamed frantically. Her baby sister was buried under all the debris from the inside of the truck. Then Benny was next to her, helping her dig.

"She's alive." He said. "Find Sally. We've got to get the hell out of here."

"I'm ok." Sally said shakily, and Alex looked to see her cousin standing behind the truck, holding her rifle.

"Get in the sidecar." Benny ordered. He carefully placed Patty in her lap. "Alex, can you drive this thing?" he asked.

"No." Alex said, though she was pretty sure she could figure it out. "Lorraine and I will walk. Or can I just shoot her now?"

"Bring her. But if she gives you any trouble at all, you shoot her." Benny said. "I'll come back for you."

"NO." Alex said. "You find us a good place to hold up and try and do something for Patty."

"Ok." Benny said, staggering a little as he started the motorcycle.

Alex could hear a battle going on in the distance. It sounded like some of their convoy was putting up a fight. The half track had evidently figured out that the motorcycle would catch them, and gone back to join in. Maybe someone from the Army would radio in and ask for assistance. They just had to hang on until some help got there.

Alex grabbed the first aid kit, and slung it around Lorraine's neck. The girl appeared to be going into shock. She just stood there and made no effort to do anything to help. Alex uncovered her BAR and a box of magazines, and shoved her pockets full. She thrust the rest of the box into Lorraine's arms and forced her to walk. When the girl fell down and started crying, she kicked her in the side.

"You get up and walk, or I will kill you right now!" Alex said, shaking the BAR in the girl's face. "Damn you, you got Eddie killed and ruined poor Ruthie's life. If I didn't need you to pack ammo I would blow you to hell right now!"

It seemed like forever before they made it into the town. Alex saw Sally waving to her from a 2nd story window. The building appeared to be a garage, and Benny had pulled the motorcycle inside. He had Patty stretched out on some boxes he had shoved together. Alex hadn't even realized that he'd bundled her baby sister into _her_ Captain's coat until she saw her wearing it. He had some blankets tucked around her as well.

"Good." He said, when he saw the first aid kit, staggering as he reached for it.

"Benny, sit down!" Alex ordered, knowing he was hit bad and would die trying to help them.

Lorraine started screaming and Alex backhanded her, nearly falling under the weight of the BAR and all the ammo she'd loaded herself with.

"Shut her up!" Sally yelled from upstairs. "Alex, I'll slit her throat if you can't make yourself do it!"

Alex trussed Lorraine up like a Christmas turkey and jammed a rag in her mouth, wondering how she'd found the strength to do it. "Keep watch, Sally!" she yelled back at her cousin.

Benny sat down next to Patty, looking at her worriedly.

"Benny, let me look at you." Alex said, sliding the BAR over her head.

He shook his head. "No need."

"Benny, don't you dare die on me! I've lost too many people in this damn War already!" Alex snapped at him.

"Sorry, Alex. It's on you now." He said, and then he slumped over.

Alex frantically straightened him out next to Patty and ripped his shirt open. He had two bullet wounds in his chest. If she could stop the bleeding, AND they got some help, maybe she could save his life.

She wanted to scream. Patty's breathing was slow and shallow, and Alex knew that she had internal injuries and a concussion at the very least. And Sally - She swallowed hard. She had never thought that she would actually die in this damn place, but now it was looking like a very real possibility.

…

Caje didn't know why he was so on edge. Something about this camp just made his skin crawl. He didn't have his grandmother's gift, but he did notice things that other people didn't. And something was just wrong. Their radio was busted, and Saunders had stopped to use the one at the hospital to check in with Hanley.

Doc had gone into one of the tents to replenish some supplies. The rest of the squad, Nelson, McCall, Littlejohn, Kirby, and the new man, Barrett, who'd been added a few weeks earlier, were sprawled out on the ground grabbing a few minutes rest.

Caje caught Kirby's eye, and the look he shot him had the BAR man easing his rifle to him and caressing it. Caje went to retrieve Doc. The hair on the back of his neck was all but standing up. He wanted the hell out of there in the worst way. It wasn't like him to panic, but he had sweat starting to bead on his face.

"What's takin' ya so long, Doc?" he called as he entered the hospital tent.

Two Doctors were heading outside, cigarettes in their hands, and Caje nodded to them. Doc was rolling bandages to carefully cradle the vials of morphine he'd replaced.

"Almost done, Caje." Doc said, concentrating on what he was doing. He hadn't picked up on the scout's agitation. Caje felt like grabbing him by the arm and hustling him out of there. If he didn't get to the trees - He made himself take a deep breath.

All the beds in the hospital were empty. Except - he took a second look at what he thought to be a pile of dirty sheets as it moved slightly. "Hurry up, Doc." He said in a whisper thru his teeth, as he pulled his bayonet out.

Doc, catching Caje's urgency, quickly shoved the bandage in his pouch, and grabbed another one. Caje approached the bed, after glancing to see that the two Doctors had stepped a ways from the tent, and were unconcernedly smoking.

He yanked the sheet back, and the sight made him gag. The man had been tortured beyond recognition. How was he even alive? The Doctors must have thought he was dead to leave him like this -

"Caje?" It was just a bare croak.

Caje leaned down, as the man caught his shirt with what seemed to be his last bit of strength. "They're Krauts." He choked out.

"Jackson?" Caje asked in disbelief.

"They're Krauts. They're going to kidnap Alex and Sally to make General Taggart -" he choked, fought for breath. And then, he was gone.

Doc stepped up to the bed. "What the hell?" he whispered to Caje as he recognized Jackson.

Caje grabbed Doc's arm and shoved him behind him. "As soon as you get out of sight of those two Doctors, you run like hell for those trees. And you stay there! They're Krauts!"

"Caje -" Doc started to protest. Caje all but dragged him toward the tent entrance, but then he stopped and grabbed an entire box of morphine and shoved it at the medic.

"Take it!" he ordered, the look in his eyes making Doc hurriedly shove it in his jacket. "If the rest of us don't get back to you, you get to Lieutenant Hanley and tell him the Krauts have some plan to use Alex and Sally as pawns to get General Taggart to do _something._

You _run,_ Doc! You _run,_ I mean it!"

"Ok, Caje. Ok." Doc said, looking worriedly at the two Doctors. He sauntered along behind Caje until they passed two more tents, and then he ran like hell.

Kirby was unconcernedly heading in Caje's direction, and McCall was a few steps behind him. "What's wrong?" The Irishman asked. Even though he and McCall looked relaxed, both of them had picked up on Caje's unease.

"They're Krauts, and we need to get the hell out of here." Caje hissed.

"Hey guys, whatcha doin'?" Billy called.

A look passed between the trio in a split second, and McCall took a swing at Kirby. He didn't hit him, but it was damn close, and the Irishman fell to the ground, cradling his BAR.

"McCall! Just take it easy! It's alright!" Caje said, reaching to grab his arm, and praying that he had it right.

"Run!" he hissed at McCall, inclining his head toward the tree line, as soon as he had turned where Billy couldn't see his face. "Pick up Doc and run like hell!"

McCall took off for the tree line, and Caje helped Kirby stumble to his feet.

"SARGE!" Billy screamed. "SARGE!" And took off running for the CO's tent.

Saunders dropped the cigarette that he'd just lit, wondering what in the hell was going on. They'd told him they were waiting on a transmission and he could use the radio as soon as it came thru.

"McCall's gone nuts! He hit Kirby and ran off!" Billy babbled.

The CO came out of the tent and gave Saunders a questioning look.

"Excuse me, sir." Saunders said. "One of my men has problems. I need to go sort this out." He jogged next to Billy as they headed for the trees.

The shot caught Billy in the side, and he would have crumpled to the ground if Saunders hadn't grabbed him and dragged him along. Kirby stepped from behind one of the tents and blasted with the BAR. Caje lent his rifle as well. Littlejohn came running from the latrine, pulling his pants up.

Barrett suddenly opened fire, hitting McCall. He didn't get off a second round before Kirby and Caje both put bullets in his head. Saunders dragged Billy, and as Littlejohn finally caught up to him, he grabbed the kid away from him and ran as hard as he could. Saunders sprayed cover fire, he and Kirby guarding the rear.

"SHIT!" McCall said, then gritted his teeth, holding his leg. "Leave me. Just give me some extra ammo, and I'll hold 'em off as long as I can."

Littlejohn was jamming packing in Billy's wound and telling him to be quiet. The kid was crying.

Doc had dropped to his knees and slit McCall's pants leg, over his protests. After he'd tied a hastily improvised bandage, he and Kirby hauled McCall to his feet. Caje had disappeared, and Saunders feared they might have lost him, when he heard a motor turn over. A few seconds later, they heard, "Hold Your Fire!" And Caje darted back thru the trees. "I got us a ride!" he yelled, running to help Littlejohn with Billy.

They shoved McCall and Billy in the back of the ambulance, then Doc, then Littlejohn all but picked Kirby up and threw him in, before he jumped in himself. Saunders covered them with his Tommy but it didn't seem like they were being pursed. The second he had a foot inside of the passenger door, Caje had the truck in the floor.

"Jackson was in there." Caje said thru clenched teeth. "They had tortured him. He said that the Krauts have some plan to use Alex and Sally as pawns to get General Taggart to do something -" he swallowed hard, "And then he died."

"It wasn't your fault, Caje." Saunders said, keeping watch behind them in the truck mirror, though he knew that Kirby would open up with the BAR the second he saw anyone behind them. "Jackson's been trying to get himself killed since his wife died. He finally got what he wanted. Just in a really bad way."

Caje let out the breath that he'd been holding. "Do you think the Krauts already have Alex and Sally?"

"I don't know what to think, Caje." Saunders said tiredly.

"You didn't trust me!" Billy wailed. "You think I'm a baby!"

Doc jabbed a syringe of morphine in him, as Littlejohn said, "Shut up, kid."

"We didn't mean for you to get shot." Kirby said, never taking his eyes off the road behind them.

"It was my fault." McCall said, "I just knew I needed to do something in a hurry."

Billy sniffled, "You don't trust -" and then he slumped over.

"Oh, SHIT." McCall said, and turned his head away.

"I don't know how he fought it that long." Doc said, sliding over to McCall. "I just knocked him out. His breathings good and he's not bleeding that badly."

 _Littlejohn had never told Billy Nelson to shut up before. Not once. Ever._ They all three realized it at the same time.

"Littlejohn, are you hurt?" Doc asked, starting to crawl across McCall.

"The Doctors were in the latrine." Littlejohn said, a look of horror on his face. "They just shot them and threw them in the ditch."

Doc touched his arm for just a second. "Don't think about it." He said kindly. "You'll need to tell Saunders when we stop, but for now, just keep an eye on Billy for me. I may have to dig this bullet out of McCall."

"Oh, shit." McCall said again, and he winced as Doc probed in his wound. When Doc reached to get some morphine from his sack, he shook his head. "I need to be able to shoot. I can stand it."

"Well tell me if it gets to be too much." Doc said, and slapped a pressure bandage on.

Caje kept the truck going at a steady speed once it became apparent that they weren't being pursued. Almost an hour later, they started slowing, and coasted to a stop.

"Must be out of gas." Kirby said, dropping to the ground. When Littlejohn would have followed him, "Naw. You stay in here and help McCall guard the rear. I'll help Caje refuel if we got anymore gas."

Saunders was standing on the running board with his Tommy leveled in front of them.

"Empty." Caje said, as threw the jerry can to the ground.

The Sarge gestured at Kirby to watch the front, and he opened out his map on the hood. "There should be a hospital three miles." He pointed. They'd carried wounded a lot farther than that before.

They piled out of the ambulance. Littlejohn carried Billy. Doc helped McCall. Caje took the point and Saunders and Kirby brought up the rear. If the hospital was even still there, it was going to be a hell of a long walk.

…

"Lieutenant?" Saunders called as he stepped into Hanley's CP.

Beckley was sitting at the radio, on a huge packing crate with his bandaged leg propped up. He had a nasty, untended wound on his head that was still seeping blood.

"You should be in bed." Saunders said.

Beckley shook his head. "There's nobody else. Hanley had to take my squad." He looked like he was going to be sick. "You've got to go back out."

" McCall and Nelson are wounded." Saunders said. "Barrett's dead. He was a Kraut. We stopped at the hospital -" he pointed on the map. "The Krauts killed all the Doctors and took it over. I need to get a message to General Taggart about his nieces, the Krauts intend to use them as bargaining chips for something. Jackson's dead."

"Shit." Beckley tried to straighten out his leg, winced, and gave up. He had known Jackson for a long time too. "Shit." He said again." I'll get a message out. I can send Davidson with you -"

"I have no use for Davidson." The squad had been glad to get rid of him.

"You can tape his mouth shut and use him as a pack mule for all I care."

"Don't want him." Saunders looked expectantly at Beckley.

" You've heard of _Quatro?"_

"The lady singers?" Inwardly, Saunders groaned.

"Their convoy got hit two days ago and we've lost so much ground since then - " Beckley sighed, pointed on the map. "They're well behind enemy lines now. There's no way they can be alive -"

Saunders checked the map coordinates, memorizing them. "I don't see how I can bring back their bodies." He said, fearing that was what Beckley wanted. Even if he _had_ the manpower. He swallowed hard. There were limits to what even he would ask his men to do.

"Just their tags, Chip." Beckley was so pale that Saunders wondered if he was going to pass out. "And maybe you could find someplace nice to bury them if the place ain't crawling with Krauts. You sure you don't want Davidson?"

"No, I don't want him." If the fool made some of his usual scathing remarks about ladies, Doc _would_ kill him. Littlejohn would probably fall apart if he saw the women, he was already upset over Billy.

"It gets better." Beckley was being sarcastic. "One of them is General Glenn's daughter."

"Oh shit." Saunders said, thinking the man was a fool to even let his child come over here. He started out of the tent, then turned, "Beck, I don't suppose any mail got here?"

"Huh?"

"My guys haven't had anything in the past couple weeks. And I don't know when Kirby's had anything. " Morale was the worst he had ever seen it. None of them had had _anything_ for Christmas.

"Littlejohn had a cake two weeks ago, and your other guys had some boxes. I had to threaten Dawkins with the brig to get him to leave, and the other guys were mad too that they missed out -" his voice trailed off at the look on Saunders face. "They didn't get it."

Saunders shook his head, beyond exhausted. He was so tired he didn't know how he was standing up. "Davidson?"

"If I find out he took it, I'll kick his ass." The difference with Beckley saying it, was that he would actually _do_ it. He could care less if he lost his stripes or not, or ended up in the brig. Davidson was no match for the Sergeant, even with him wounded.

"We left an ambulance." Saunders said, turning back to the map. "It's just out of gas, and you might need it." He wondered what else he was forgetting.

"Good luck, Chip. I'll send you some help as soon as I can."

Saunders headed back to the hospital to round up the squad, and saw Billy being loaded in the back of an ambulance under a nurse's watchful eye. The kid raised a hand in farewell to Saunders and Saunders nodded to him and helped the orderly close the doors.

"Has he got a chance?" he asked the nurse huskily as the ambulance roared off. And then he realized it was Lieutenant Palmer under all that filth. Her hands and arms were clean, but the rest of her - They had to be short on water as well as everything else. He had never seen the woman looking so exhausted and defeated.

She shot a look of disgust at the hospital tent. "He does now that I got him away from that _butcher._ I would have sent your other man too but there wasn't room. He'll lose his leg but I won't let him die." The fierce determination in her voice would have been amusing to Saunders if he hadn't been so tired.

Misunderstanding the look on his face, she said, "They're not dead."

"Ma'am?"

"You're going after those women. They're tough. Patty Glenn is an excellent nurse. She'll patch 'em up and keep 'em alive until help gets there. I've never met her sister, but I hear that she's absolute hell with a rifle."

Saunders digested that, thought she had just told him something _really_ important, but he was just so damn tired, he couldn't puzzle out what. "Sergeant Beckley has a head wound that needs to be cleaned." He said. "I can have my medic stop and do it on our way out -"

"Damn man told me it was just his leg." She yelled at one of the orderlies, and he ran into the tent and reappeared with another orderly and an armful of medical supplies. The three of them started jogging toward Hanley's CP. "Good luck, Sergeant!" she called at him.

Beckley looked up as the nurse and two orderlies burst into the CP. The nurse made an exasperated sound at him when she saw his head.

"I don't need that." He said, when he saw the cot one of the orderlies was starting to set up.

"Well you're getting it." In less than a minute, Beckley found himself installed on the cot and his packing crate shifted to the other side of the tent. Davidson came in and watched, not offering to help.

"I need you to go get an ambulance." Beckley told him. "It just needs some gas." He pointed on the map.

"That's three miles." Davidson whined.

"That squad that just left came that far carrying wounded. I'm sure that you can carry some gas." Lieutenant Palmer said acidly.

Beckley bit back a grin. "Hop to it, kid. I'll have something else for you to do when you get back."

Muttering under his breath, Davidson left the tent.

The nurse put her hands on Beckley's face and tipped his head carefully, and looked into his eyes as she started running her fingers thru his hair, looking for more damage. He laughed, in spite of himself.

"I don't find it the least bit amusing that you lied to me when I asked you if you were hurt anywhere else, Sergeant." She said, eyes snapping.

The two orderlies had started easing for the tent door.

"You're really pretty when you're mad." Beckley said, figuring that if she brained him, his head couldn't possibly hurt any worse than it already did.

The nurse gestured and the two orderlies left. One of them gave Beckley a " _You have lost your mind!"_ look.

Beckley gritted his teeth when she started cleaning his head wound.

"You're supposed to look after us until Lieutenant Hanley gets back." She said. " Doctor Brown doesn't have the sense God gave a goat."

"I'm aware of that, ma'am." Beckley said. He'd had his medic and Dawkins dig the bullet out of his leg before they got back to camp, having no intention of letting Brown operate on him. "I'm sorry to cause extra work for you, but I can't take the radio to the hospital with all the wounded –"

She started wrapping gauze around his head, lost her balance, and fell, almost in his lap. He caught her and for just a second her face was against his chest and he could swear she was trying not to cry.

"When'd you lose your husband?" he asked, suddenly understanding.

"Just after Omaha." She swallowed hard. "He made it off the beach, but -"

"I'm sorry." Beckley said softly. "I lost somebody too." There was no way that Trish would ever have married him, but he _had_ loved her.

"I'm sorry." She said against his chest. Then, "God, I'm filthy. We're low on water, we don't have many supplies, and that poor man that just came in is going to lose his leg. Just like so many other - " She choked.

"I've asked for help, and they promised to send it." Beckley said, patting her back, and wondering if he dared to kiss her. Hell, he hadn't kissed a woman since Trish. And that had been back in Africa, several lifetimes ago.

"I've heard that song before." She swiped at her eyes. "I'll send one of the orderlies back to check on you. I guess maybe you could try and yell if you get dizzy?"

"I'll be alright." He reached and patted her arm. He would have squeezed her hand, but he was a little afraid to. "It'll be ok. Maybe Davidson will get back with that ambulance and we can ship some more of the wounded out before the butcher gets hold of them."

"Thank you Sergeant." She looked at him like she wanted to say something else, and then just said, "Thank you." again, before she left.

….

Davidson drained the last of the liquor and threw the bottle in the brush. He wished he had some more of that cake that Littlejohn's Mom had sent. He thought it was the best thing he'd ever had to eat in his life. He hadn't liked the cookies from his lady friend, he'd fed them to one of the starving dogs who hung around the camp. Those guys all thought they were so much better than him. Well, he'd enjoyed, or thrown out all their food, and burnt their letters, even Hanley's.

He started pouring the gas in the ambulance, not realizing that it was running down the side of the can and puddling at his feet. He threw his cigarette on the ground, the WHOOSH! making him jump as his pants leg caught fire. He lost his balance and cracked his head on the side of the truck as he fell.

The explosion made Beckley jump up off his crate, and take the headset off as he stumbled to the front of the tent. He could see a big plume of smoke that had to be the ambulance that he had sent Davidson to retrieve.

"What the hell was that?" the radio operator demanded. "Are you under fire?"

"I don't know." Beckley said. "It was a couple miles away. Where's the damn help you promised me? And it would be nice if you could find a _real_ Doctor instead of that worthless butcher you left here." He _thought_ he was talking to a Corporal, but he couldn't remember. His damn head hurt badly, and he was dizzy and nauseous. He _could not_ pass out, Brown would get everyone killed.

"Sergeant! Are we under attack?" Lieuteant Palmer ran into the tent. "I told you to stay in the bed!" she said as she took the headset from him. " _Whoever the hell you are,_ you get off your ass and get me some help right now!" she snapped into the radio. "We're under fire. Beckley is injured, and I have no protection for my nurses and wounded. _DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"_

"We're on the way, ma'am. Find some low ground and get in a ditch if you can find one." The voice on the other end shot back at her. "Just don't yell at the Krauts, ok? Maybe they won't shoot you and the other ladies. We're coming. Get away from the radio!" And then the line went dead.

….

Alex watched in horror as the BAR man eased along the buildings wall. He couldn't see the two Krauts who were hidden behind some packing crates. She could see them, but she couldn't hit them from where she was. She didn't know what to do. And he was going to be killed. Trying to rescue _her._

She squeezed the trigger on the BAR and it clicked empty. Frantically, she dove across to the next window and grabbed her 30-30.

Her shot hit the wall eight inches above Kirby's head, exactly where she'd aimed, praying that it wouldn't ricochet and kill him. He ducked and crabbed backwards, and half a second later, the Kraut bullet that would have taken his head off burnt a path from the corner of his nose across his cheek and the lobe of his ear. He screamed in spite of himself, and passed out.

 _He was dead! They'd killed him anyway! She was so stupid._ She couldn't hit the Krauts, but she could damn well shoot the wall behind them and make it fall on them and flush them out in the open.

Littlejohn heard someone open up, realizing there was something strange about the sound. It took him a few minutes to process that he was hearing a 30-30. Who in the heck would have one of those over here?

"Kirby!" he called, chancing a glance around the corner. The BAR man was lying in a pool of blood and he'd lost his helmet. "Kirby, can you hear me?" he demanded frantically, dropping to his knees and snaking a long arm around the corner to drag the BAR man to him.

"Littlejohn?" Kirby managed, trying to blink dirt from his eyes. "Oh, God! My head's blown off, ain't it?"

"You just got some blow back in the face, and it's bleeding like hell. You're ok." Littlejohn said, praying he was right. "Close your eyes." When Kirby looked at him in confusion, he covered them with a big paw and doused some sulfa in his wound. He slapped a bandage on top of it. "Hold this." Kirby didn't seem to be able to understand him, and he took the Irishman's hand and placed it on the bandage. "Hold this. Do not take your hand off. Understand?"

The BAR man tried to nod, looked like he was going to pass out. Littlejohn dragged him by his harness, and Kirby managed to hold the bandage on and keep hold of his BAR, which Littlejohn thought was a good sign. He shoved him down behind some packing crates.

"Stay here and be quiet. I'll come back for you."

"Kay." Kirby managed, but Littlejohn figured that he'd probably pass out before he got back.

The other rifleman was still pouring it on, and Littlejohn knew the gun had to be burning him. He was either panicked or shot to hell himself, and shooting on auto pilot.

Alex blasted away at the wall, watching huge chunks of it falling on the Krauts. She was pretty sure that she was out of their range. They had shot back at her a few times, but their bullets had pinged into the building front harmlessly. She cut loose again, and a huge section of brick toppled down unto one of the Krauts. The other one panicked and fled out into the street and someone shot him before she could grab her sniper rifle.

"We're Americans! Hold your fire!" Saunders yelled as he raced for the buildings door. It was _Sally_ , cradling a rifle with her arm in a sling, who tried to help him open it. Caje and Doc ran in on his heels and Caje slammed the door shut as Sally fell back against the wall.

Saunders took in the beautiful redhead, gagged and tied in the floor, and the woman in a Captain's coat who was struggling to sit up from where she'd been lying on some packing crates. She had a very large pistol in her hand, and the way she held it told him that she knew how to use it. There was a man stretched out next to her, and he was either badly wounded or dead. Doc headed for the two of them.

"It's alright ma'am. We've come to get you back." Saunders said.

"I'm comin' up! Hold your fire!" he yelled upstairs. He could hear the soldier sobbing and cussing a blue streak, but he was still providing cover fire for Kirby and Littlejohn. Nothing a hard nosed Sergeant like him couldn't put to rights. But the words he'd been about to say stuck in his throat when he saw the soldier was _Alex._

"I just got your BAR man killed." Alex managed thru her tears. "Why didn't you give the BAR to McCall?" At the confused look on his face, "Oh, God, did my father have him shot?"

Saunders saw the blood on her face and her shirt, and figured that she was out of her head. "Calm down, Alex." He said quietly. "McCall's fine. He didn't come with us. They've been shuffling squads around."

"Jimmy?" she choked out.

Saunders wondered why in the hell she didn't ask about Kirby. "He's clearing the street." He said.

Alex slumped against the wall, even though she was still guarding her window, and fresh tears started pouring down her face.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry." Doc said to the beautiful woman in the Captain's coat. He gently pulled the blanket over Benny's face. She had frantically pointed to the soldier when he had headed to help _her._

'It's not fair." She said, tears flowing. Then she bit her lip and tried to smile at him. "Thank you for coming to get us."

"I'm not used to working on ladies." Doc said carefully. "But if you tell me where you're hurt -" he chanced a glance at Caje, saw that the scout was watching the street. "All of us are gentlemen and we won't peek."

"Doc! Kirby's hit!" Littlejohn yelled as he barreled thru the door, dragging the BAR man.

Sally took one look at Kirby's bloody face and fainted dead away. Littlejohn let go of the BAR man and grabbed her before she hit the floor. Caje shoved the sliding door closed and caught Kirby's arm before he fell.

"Shit." Kirby said. "I'm sorry, ladies. Where's the Sarge?" he stumbled and looked around the room.

"Get over here right now and let me look at you." Patty ordered.

"I'm alright, ma'am." Kirby said, swaying on his feet, and Doc realized he was concussed and couldn't focus his eyes.

"That was an order." Patty barked.

Doc bit back a grin, and Kirby stumbled to the rear of the room. The medic grabbed him and sat him down on a crate.

"Ladies first." Kirby said firmly, ignoring the blood pouring from his face and the back of his head.

"Be quiet." Patty snapped, trying to judge how badly he was was hurt from her bed.

Littlejohn sat down in the floor supporting a wide eyed Sally. She whispered something to the giant that evidently shocked him, and Caje straightened from his post at the door and shot a look at Kirby that Doc didn't understand.

"Do you have any food?" Patty asked.

"Littlejohn, give Sally some peaches." Doc said, applying another pressure bandage to Kirby's face. Maybe if he got some of the blood covered up she would be ok. He had thought she was tougher than that. But she was hurt and exhausted and Kirby _did_ look like hell.

Sally was whispering to Littlejohn and watching Kirby, and silent tears started rolling down the big man's face. Sally patted them away, ignoring her own tears. Caje looked back out to the street, but Doc could have sworn he was crying too.

"Didn't mean to upset you ladies." Kirby said, lurching to his feet. "I'm 'kay. Just looks bad."

Patty grabbed his hand and jerked him back on the crate. Doc winced as he checked the back of Kirby's head. "Did he get shot, Littlejohn?" he asked the giant, as he probed the wound. Kirby couldn't focus his eyes and it was a miracle he was conscious. How were they all going to make it back?

"I think he hit the back of his head on the wall. He was knocked out when I found him."

"Don't give Sally too many peaches. I have to try and do something for her arm."

"It's broken in three places." Patty said.

"Shit." Doc said feelingly.

"Exactly." Patty said, giving him a look that told him not to apologize for his language. She whispered. "Don't you dare tell your Sergeant and Alex how bad I'm hurt either. They've got enough on them."

"Alex? _Alex West?_ " Doc looked upstairs. And then it all made sense. Well, she might just shoot Kirby so he didn't know why he was trying to patch him back together.

"Do you know my sister?"

"Alex is your _sister?"_ Doc looked at her worriedly.

"She hates me." Kirby said, tears starting. "Best thing ever happened to me and I'm a damn fool." He lurched unsteadily to his feet and staggered up the stairs.

"Who's he?" Patty whispered.

"Your brother in law." Doc said.

"But he's _dead!_ " Patty shot another glance in Kirby's direction. "They told Alex he was dead. She tried to kill herself." She looked at Sally in confusion. "Alex couldn't have married that squirrely little man!"

Caje laughed out loud before he could stop himself, and at the glare he got from Patty, he turned back to the door.

"Street's clear, Sarge!" Kirby called.

Saunders bit back a groan when he saw the BAR man. He didn't know how he was even standing, and his eyes weren't focused. And Alex was liable to -

Alex was staring at Kirby like she was going to pass out. She opened her mouth, then closed it. "I don't understand." she whispered, looking at Saunders.

"Go downstairs and get that shoulder looked at NOW." He ordered.

She staggered to her feet, and as she started past Kirby, he caught her arm. "Hey kid, you're hit!' he started pulling her shirt back, and Saunders would have laughed except that it really wasn't funny.

"Downstairs NOW." He barked at Alex.

"Thank you." She said, looking at Saunders.

The Sarge had _no_ idea what was going on. He had four wounded women, Kirby was hurt, and he was clueless how he was going to get them all back.

"Let me look at your arm, Alex." Doc said gently, sitting her down next to Patty.

"Help Sally first."

"There's nothing he can do for me." Sally said. "And you told me that was somebody else's blood."

Alex shrugged. "Bullets still in there." She told Doc. "I guess you better just leave it. I have to be able to walk."

"I'm not used to doctoring ladies." Doc said.

Alex just shook her head at him and eased her arm out of the sleeve. Patty caught her hand and held it while Doc checked out her wound.

"You've got a fever too." Doc said.

"He's not dead." Alex said to Patty. Then she shot a frantic look at Doc. "How bad is he hurt? He didn't even know who I was -"

"Calm down." Doc said firmly. "He's got a concussion and a nasty wound on his face. You know how tough he is. I imagine he'll still be driving you crazy fifty years from now."

"You promise?"

"I promise." Doc said, and Alex didn't see the worried look he gave Patty.

"What's with her?" Littlejohn asked, gesturing to Lorraine.

"She's a Kraut spy and I should have just let Alex shoot her." Sally said bitterly.

…

Alex came down the stairs, weighted down with guns. She very carefully placed an old 30-30, evidently much loved, on a packing crate, and ran her hand over it one last time. Then she lined up with the guys to get instructions from Saunders.

Patty shot Doc a beseeching look, and he grabbed the rifle and shoved it under the blanket on her stretcher. "Our secret." He whispered. There was no way in hell that she was going to make it, and he was not doing anything to upset her. She had internal injuries, and she needed a surgeon right now. And then weeks of bed rest. He doubted that she weighed one hundred pounds, soaking wet. The little bit of weight from the gun wasn't going to make any difference.

Littlejohn, evidently told to help Doc with the stretcher, started their way.

"Alex is looking at that man like he's a vat of chocolate ice cream and she's going to dive right in." Patty said suddenly.

Doc looked up from where he was tucking the rifle in with her, to see Alex watching Kirby with her heart in her eyes.

"Oh." Patty said, evidently realizing something. "This is about _sex_ , isn't it?"

"Ma'am, please be quiet." Doc said, wondering if he'd given her too much morphine.

"Sally said that sex with the right man is better than a hot fudge sundae with extra whipped cream."

"Ma'am, please -" Doc started again.

Littlejohn made a strangled noise in his throat and headed for Saunders.

"I told them they were nuts. Nothing could be better than that. I'd really like some ice cream." Patty looked at Doc in confusion. "That little man must be really good in bed. I never saw Alex look at Bill like that."

Caje choked, covered his mouth with his hand, and at the glare he got from Doc, hurriedly started checking his rifle.

"Sarge, I'm sorry. I just can't -" Littlejohn said, casting a worried look back at Patty on the improvised stretcher.

Saunders hadn't heard Patty. He mistakenly thought that Littlejohn had heard Doc tell him that the poor woman was dying, and he couldn't bear to see it. "Can you help Lorraine and Sally walk?" he asked.

"Yeah." Littlejohn managed.

"Caje, you help Doc." Saunders said. "I'll take the point." Alex and Kirby would have to be the rear guard. It would be a miracle if they made it back. If Doc hadn't told him absolutely not to upset Patty unless he could help it, he would have left Kirby. The Irishman was swaying on his feet and the bandage on his face was oozing blood. Saunders knew it would only be a matter of time before they had to hole up and make a stand, and hope that help got to them in time.

"I'll watch the kid, Sarge." Kirby said quietly.

"Thanks Kirby." Saunders said. Doc had apparently taken the entire mission in his own hands. He had told Saunders NOT to leave Kirby. Then he had told Kirby that the "other BAR man" had some heavy brass connections and he needed to let him make the decisions while he actually babysat him.

"Kirby, you don't shoot unless I tell you to." Alex said, stepping up to Kirby and looking at him worriedly.

"Sure kid." Kirby said, looking right past Alex instead of _at_ her. Saunders hoped they didn't get in a firefight. He would have to be worried about the Irishman mowing down the squad himself.

…

Saunders glanced back, saw the agony on Caje's face. Doc had said that Patty wasn't doing well. He could trade off with the scout and maybe spare him being there when the pretty woman died. He started back toward them, thinking that Kirby could not possibly have said what he had just heard. And then he realized that Kirby HAD. Caje looked at Alex, and both of them burst out laughing. Doc was just plain mortified.

"KIRBY! SHUT UP!" Saunders bellowed.

"Sheesh!" Kirby tried to stand on his tiptoes to make himself taller than his Sergeant. "You told me to look after the kid, and I was just tellin' him where he could get a really good -"

Alex grabbed Kirby's shirt, and their helmets clanked together with a thud as she kissed the heck out of him.

"Well, if he didn't have a concussion, he's got one now." Doc said ruefully.

"A really good what?" Patty asked, tugging on Doc's pants leg.

"Go back to sleep, please ma'am." Doc said, looking embarrassed.

Caje was all but whooping with laughter and Littlejohn cast a worried look over his shoulder, wondering what was happening.

"You _kissed_ me." Kirby said, when Alex let go of him.

"I may it do it again, too."

"NO." he shook his finger at her. "I'm married. I don't -" he stopped, looked confused. Then, "Alex?"

"Yes baby, it's me." Alex said, and grinned at him, even though she was crying.

Saunders cleared his throat hard, then said gruffly, "Get a move on. And Kirby, you keep your damn mouth shut."

Less than five minutes later, they walked right into the Kraut patrol.

"Hande hoch!" The Sergeant barked out.

Saunders nearly groaned, as he leaned over and dropped his Tommy to the ground. Littlejohn had to let go of Sally to drop his rifle, and Caje carefully set his end of the stretcher down before he dropped his. Alex and Kirby were both swaying on their feet. Alex had so much blood on her that she looked half dead, and Kirby couldn't focus his eyes. Both of them had their BARs pointing at the ground, and the Krauts laughed at them, dismissing them as no threat.

The Kraut Captain gestured for one of the soldiers to untie Lorraine, as he slapped his boots with a riding crop.

"Sir? The ladies are entertainers. I'm sure they would be happy to sing for you. They're not -"

The crop cut a deep gash across Saunders cheek, just below his eye, and he stepped backward, blinking involuntary tears as blood sprayed from his face.

As soon as the gag was pulled from her mouth, Lorraine started screaming. The captain just made a disgusted sound, pulled his pistol, and shot her in the head. Blood and body parts sprayed all over Sally's face, and she opened and closed her mouth in shock. Littlejohn reached out a long arm and folded her into his shoulder with his hand on her head, glaring at the Captain as he did.

"Captain! None of this is necessary!" Patty called out, trying to push Doc off of her. "My name is Patty Glenn and I'm sure that you can work something out with my father as long as you don't hurt us!"

"Oh Patty." Saunders thought. She had just changed things from bad to worse. There was no way in hell they were getting out of this alive. The women - He swallowed hard. At least Alex had got to kiss Kirby. Once. He had turned into a damn sentimental fool.

"Fraulein." The Captain strode toward Patty on the stretcher.

The shot was loud. Saunders scrambled for his Tommy. Littlejohn dove on Sally and covered her with his body. Caje hit the dirt trying to get to his rifle.

"KIRBY NOW! SHOOT NOW!" Alex yelled, shoving him slightly away from her, and cutting loose with the BAR. A few seconds later, "KIRBY, RELOAD!" Even as she was slamming a fresh magazine in her own rifle.

Kirby, only seconds behind her, though he was concussed, said, "Dammit, Grady, quit tellin' me what to do!"

Saunders looked in shock at the entire Kraut squad, mowed down by Alex and Kirby. Both of the BAR's were smoking. Alex was wincing, but still holding tightly to her hot rifle. Kirby, confused as he was, had grasped the gravity of the situation and shot an entire magazine at once.

"KIRBY, GUARD!" Alex snapped, gesturing to the dead Krauts, and starting to step forward. She didn't think it was possible that any of them were still alive, but she wasn't taking any chances.

"No, Alex, I've got it." Caje said, shooting Saunders a worried glance.

"Sit down, Alex." The Sarge said, grabbing the back of her BAR harness and lowering her to the ground before she fell.

"Blondie -" Alex had tears leaking down her face, and she looked like she was going to be sick. "Help Kirby please." She managed.

"Sorry, Sarge." Kirby said. Saunders helped him to the ground before he fell, and gently pushed the BAR muzzle _away_ from the squad. Alex held a gun on the Krauts while Caje made sure they were dead.

"Anybody hit?" Saunders asked, though he didn't think anyone other than Patty, Alex and Kirby had gotten a shot off. Doc had wrestled the rifle away from Patty and had a wild look on his face.

"Sarge?" Littlejohn asked worriedly, and Saunders glanced at him to see him pulling a mostly white handkerchief from his pocket. Sally was shaking and her eyes were huge.

"Go ahead." Saunders told the giant, and Littlejohn poured a little water on his hanky and very gently cleaned Sally's face as he talked to her.

Patty was giving Doc what for. She certainly didn't seem like she was dying. It sounded like she might very well get up and kick Doc's ass. Doc was looking at her like he couldn't decide whether to kiss her or strangle her.

"Well," Saunders thought. "That certainly didn't take long." One thing that Patty and Alex seemed to have in common was a hot temper, and if Patty stayed mad, maybe she would keep fighting and not give up.

"Alex, can you go on a little farther?" he asked. They were going to have to hole up and hope that help came to them. If he kept pushing the women the way he had, he risked killing them. He supposed he could go for help and leave Caje in charge -

"That's a tank!" Alex said, staggering to her feet. "Get in the trees!"

"Alex, calm down -" Saunders froze. It most definitely _was_ a tank approaching from the other side of the hill. "Get in the trees!" he gestured with his arm, repeating Alex's orders.

Caje grabbed the end of Patty's stretcher and he and Doc hustled her into cover. Littlejohn simply picked Sally up and ran. Saunders helped Alex drag Kirby, who seemed to be all in. He didn't bother to tell her that he would get the little Irishman under cover himself. He had a feeling that Alex was never going to let go of Kirby again. Everyone huddled under cover and Saunders peeked from behind a tree.

He thought that Doc kissed Patty, but it was so fast he wasn't sure he _had_ seen it. Kirby started muttering and was instantly silenced by Alex, Saunders didn't look to see how. As long as she kept him quiet, that was all that mattered.

He gave a huge sigh of relief when the American tank crested the hill, flanked by infantry. He had to get medical help for the girls. A chaplain for Littlejohn to talk to. He swallowed hard. Maybe a chaplain for _all_ of them. Battle hardened as his men were, they had never seen a woman executed in front of them before. He dug his own grimy handkerchief out of his pocket and tied it to his gun barrel before waving it from the tree.

Shamrocks


	2. Chapter 2

"Hanley!" Sally screamed, running toward him. "Hanley!"

"It's alright now, Miss Tavish." Hanley said formally, shifting his rifle so he could catch hold of her good arm. She looked like she was going to collapse. "The hell with it!" he thought, and scooped her up in his arms and turned and ran back toward the oncoming ambulances.

"Hanley, I love you!" Sally said tearfully. When he didn't say anything. "Please talk to me."

Hanley gritted his teeth. There was no way out of this. He loved her too, but dammit - She was involved with Jackson, and he wasn't entirely certain that she wasn't playing him for a fool. And he could never marry a woman like _her._ He couldn't take her home with him. He'd always be wondering when her past would catch up with them. His society mother would have an attack of the vapors at the _thought_ of him having anything to do with a woman like her.

He couldn't look at the pain and despair etched in Sally's face. He didn't know how badly she was hurt. She had blood, and something that he didn't want to know what it was, smeared on her cheeks and in her hair. Her arm was most definitely broken, and she was exhausted.

"It's alright, Miss Tavish." He said, sitting her down gently, and gesturing to the medics who erupted from the ambulance. "You're safe now. These men will help you."

"Hanley!" Sally called after him as he headed back down the hill. "Hanley! _Please?"_

"Ma'am?" One of the medics guided her to the back of the ambulance and she sat down in the door at his urging. "Did you get shot?" he asked her worriedly, grabbing some gauze and blotting at her face. Sally would have laughed at his gentle ministrations if she hadn't been heart broken.

Saunders looked in disbelief at all the medics pouring down the hill with what looked like a full platoon. The first one stopped in front of him and he gestured him on to Alex and Kirby.

"Hey buddy. I'm here to help you." The Corporal said to Alex, dropping to his knees and reaching for her.

"I don't think so." Alex put up a hand to stop him. It was _one thing_ for Doc to apply a field dressing. She was not having this man peel her out of her shirt in the middle of a field.

"I'm sorry, ma'am!" he turned purple. "I'm sorry! You've got so much mud and blood on you -" he stopped. "How bad are you hurt?"

Two more medics appeared and made the mistake of trying to get Kirby's BAR away from him.

"Kirby, honey!" Alex yelled, "DON'T SHOOT ANYBODY!"

"KIRBY, STAND DOWN!" Saunders bellowed.

Alex just threw herself over Kirby and said something in his ear, and he let go of his BAR. "Don't hurt him." She said to the medics, giving them both a warning glare.

"No ma'am." One of them said, backing off as Saunders took the Irishman's rifle away from him.

"Saunders!" Hanley called. When Saunders turned to face him. "My God, Saunders!"

The Sarge had no idea that the entire left side of his face was black and his eye had swollen so tightly shut it looked like it wasn't even there anymore. His shirt front was covered in blood and it was still dripping from his face.

"I'm alright, Lieutenant." He said, and then stepped on an uneven patch of ground and lost his balance, overburdened with his Tommy and Kirby's BAR.

Hanley grabbed him by the shoulders and lowered him to the ground, and despite Saunders protests, he had an IV jammed in his arm by one medic and another one had ripped his shirt open and was looking for wounds. "Just my face." He managed, wondering why everything was suddenly trying to go black.

"It's alright, Sarge." He dimly heard Caje's voice. "I got this. You lost a lot of blood. We've got plenty of help."

"Nelson?" Saunders managed, trying to look at Hanley.

"Holding his own." Hanley assured him. When Caje shot him a look that asked if he was telling the truth, he gave him a quick nod.

"Chaplain." Saunders said, and then he blacked completely out.

As the medics carried him toward an ambulance, and Caje thought he was out of hearing, he said quietly, "Littlejohn needs somebody to talk to -"

They heard some yelling and both of them looked to see what was going on. General Taggart, himself, was headed down the hill, despite some quite vigorous protesting by what looked to be a Captain and another Lieutenant.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Bull roared, and both of them had the sense to back off. The medics who had taken over Patty's care rushed past him with her stretcher, and he stopped, but she had her eyes tightly closed and appeared to be completely out of it.

"You _are not_ taking my BAR!" Alex protested to the medic.

"Alex?" Bull said, his voice only slightly shaky, and she stumbled to her feet and threw her arms around him.

"I'm sorry." She said into his chest. "I'm sorry. I did the best I could. Poor Benny's dead."

" _None_ of this is your fault." Bull said sternly. Caje had a feeling that whoever's fault it _was,_ was going to wish that they had never been born.

"Pat's is hurt bad. And poor Sally. And Kirby -"

"Let me have your rifle so these men can get you on a stretcher." Bull said firmly.

At his look of surprise at the heat when she handed it to him, "Kirby and I shot a whole squad of Germans. You need to check, they may have something of value on them -"

"Alex, let the medics tend to you. We can sort this out later."

"Jimmy needs a chaplain."

"I brought one." Bull assured her, the glare he gave the two hovering medics making them spring into action.

"You can't make Caje and Doc and Jimmy walk anymore!" Alex protested again.

"I'm alright, Alex." Caje said quietly, and then he glanced at Littlejohn, who most definitely, was not.

"Let me handle this Alex." Bull said.

"OW!" Alex protested as one of the medics jabbed her with a needle. "YOU IDIOT!" Then, "DOC!" spying him standing, looking lost, after the medics had relieved him of Patty. "DOC!"

"I'm right here!" he pushed the medic with the IV out of the way and took over.

"I want Doc. Not _him!"_ Alex said, frantically looking around for Bull.

"Sergeant, get away from my niece." Bull said. "Did no one teach you how to treat ladies?"

"Hell, I thought she was a guy." The Sergeant mumbled.

"You _are_ an idiot." Bull said. He took a few steps in Littlejohn's direction. "Are you alright, son?"

"It's _not mine."_ Jimmy said, looking in distaste at the bloody mess on his shoulder and chest that Sally's face had smeared on him. He looked like he was going to be sick. "They shot them." He said to Bull. "They just shot the poor Doctors and threw them in the latrine."

"War is hell, son." Bull said, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Littlejohn, you need some help?" Grady asked carefully, stopping a respectful distance from General Taggart.

"Get him up the hill and in an ambulance. And find the chaplain for him." Bull ordered.

"Yes sir." Grady said, catching hold of Littlejohn's arm and urging him along.

"Sir, you really shouldn't be down here -" The Captain started again, and shut up at the glare that Bull gave him.

"You're Caje, right?" Bull asked.

"Yes sir." Caje said, and was shocked beyond belief when Taggart offered him his hand.

"Thank you for saving my girls." The General said huskily. "Come with me. I want a full report from you, and then we'll get you something to eat and you can rest."

"Yes sir." Caje said, shooting a glance at Hanley, not quite sure if he needed to ask permission.

"Hanley, you check out those dead Krauts that Alex told me about." The General turned to Caje as they started up the hill, "Did Alex really shoot an entire squad?"

"Miss Patty shot the Captain." Caje said. He wasn't exactly sure what he was _supposed_ to call her, but supposed that that would do.

Taggart stopped so fast that Caje nearly bumped into him. "Where's McCall?" he asked, the worry in his face evident.

"He got shot." At the look of horror on the General's face, "On the patrol before this one. We left him at the hospital. I think he'll probably lose his leg."

"Shit." Taggart said, and started walking again.

"We just walked right into a Kraut patrol sir, I'm sorry." Caje said, and swallowed hard. "They took our guns. They didn't bother with Alex and Kirby because they thought they were dying and no threat. The girls had the other lady tied up when we found them. They said she was a Kraut. She started screaming when the Captain took her gag out and he just _shot her."_ Caje swallowed hard again, wondering if he was going to be sick. It had happened so fast that he hadn't actually _thought_ about it until now.

"You alright?" General Taggart asked.

"Yes sir." Caje gritted his teeth. He was not going to be sick in front of the man. "Miss Patty told the Captain not to hurt anybody else, that General Glenn would give them whatever they wanted. And when he walked back toward her, she shot him. None of us knew she had a gun. And Alex and Kirby opened up and took out the whole squad. I just checked to see that the Krauts were dead, sir. I didn't look -"

"Somebody else will take care of that." The General said, and he turned to the Lieutenant who had been constantly badgering him. "Make sure this man gets put in the ambulance with Littlejohn _and_ the chaplain."

"Yes sir." The Lieutenant said, grabbing Caje's arm and hustling him along.

Caje heard one of the girl's screaming. He thought it was Alex, and Alex was not a screamer. He had the horrid thought that Kirby had died, and took off running for the ambulance. But then he realized that Alex was standing in the door, being restrained by Doc, who was trying to keep her from jumping out. Some medics were trying to load Kirby in another ambulance and Alex was pitching a fit like he had never heard.

"Bring him back!" Doc yelled. "There's plenty of room in here for him!"

"Ladies only." One of the guys said.

"I'm not a lady, and I _will_ shoot you." Sally said, leveling a pistol at him.

"So will I." Alex said, though she was swaying and looked like she was going to pass out. Caje caught her arms and pushed her back in the ambulance.

"Calm down, Alex." He said gently. She was burning up, and he saw the dismay on Doc's face. The two other young medics in the vehicle didn't look like either one of them was sixteen. One of them was crying.

"GET THAT MAN IN THE AMBULANCE WITH THOSE WOMEN AND MOVE OUT!" General Taggart bellowed.

The two medics who had halfway loaded Kirby in a different ambulance jogged back with him and slid him in next to Alex, who instantly shut up and reached and put a hand on him as if she was checking to make sure that he was really there. Caje closed the doors, wondering if it was too late. He knew that Patty was in bad shape. Kirby had a head injury and Alex was liable to lose her arm from infection. And poor Sally -

He didn't protest when the Lieutenant pushed him into the ambulance with Littlejohn and Saunders. The giant had been relieved of his bloody coat and shirt and had a blanket wrapped around him. The Chaplain was reading a passage from his Bible, and Littlejohn appeared to have calmed down. Saunders was unconscious.

"Caje, you alright?" Littlejohn asked shakily.

"Yeah. Doc and Kirby are in the ambulance with the girls."

"Good." Littlejohn managed. "Are they gonna be ok?"

"Yes." Caje said, and wondered if he was lying to Littlejohn or himself. How had he let that damn pain in the ass Irishman get as close to him as Theo had ever been? If Kirby died - he bit down on the inside of his jaw so hard he felt it start to bleed.

"Son." The Chaplain laid a concerned hand on his arm. "Just take it easy. They have excellent medical staff and plenty of medicine. And I don't think any of them are quitters."

"Thank you, sir." Caje managed.

….

He had thought they were his friends. He had thought he was part of the squad. It was just like back when he was in the hospital in Africa. Nobody to care if he made it or not. McCall tried to shift in the bed. He hurt so damn bad. _None_ of them had come. Not _even_ Littlejohn. He was burning with fever, and he knew he was going to lose his leg.

"Hey! They must be back!" One of the more ambulatory patients said, grabbing his crutches and hobbling to the tent door.

"Are those dames ok?" Somebody asked. "Can you see them?

"Can you believe they sent _Littlejohn_ after them?" Another voice chimed in. "Hell, Jim wouldn't look at a dame other than his fiancé if she took her clothes off -"

"WATCH YOUR MOUTH!" Beckley growled.

"Ahh… Yes sir." The speaker said sheepishly. He didn't know what rank Beckley was, but knew authority when he heard it.

"Lieutenant Palmer, can you see anything?" Beckley asked politely, as she joined the man on crutches at the entrance.

"That's Patty Glenn on the stretcher." The nurse said shakily. "She looks like she's in bad shape. They're helping another lady who seems to be injured badly as well, but she's walking." She swiped at her eyes.

"They just pulled a guy on a stretcher out of another ambulance. And there's Littlejohn - he looks like he's ok." The guy on crutches at the door said. "Caje looks ok too, he just walked over to the ambulance the ladies were in. He's helpin' carry a stretcher -" he seemed to lose his composure, then said, "That must be one of the women. He just squeezed her hand and said something to her."

"Caje?" Alex said. "Caje?"

"I'm right here." He said, sliding his hand over hers.

"Please look after Jimmy."

"He's with the chaplain. I think he'll be ok once he gets cleaned up and some food in him." Caje assured her.

"Take care -" she faded a little "Of yourself too. Thank you."

"No sweat, Alex." Caje said, wondering why it was suddenly hard to talk. "You just rest and get better. Everything will be ok." He set his end of the stretcher down in the surgical tent. "This _lady_ has a bullet in her shoulder." He said to the Doctor who had started working on Saunders.

"The women were supposed to be stabilized and moved farther forward." The Doctor said, giving Caje a strange look.

"I can wait." Alex said, trying to sit up. "Kirby? Where's Kirby?"

"Right here." Caje said, as two more medics came thru the entrance with his stretcher.

"Load this woman up and move her out. She should have gone with the other ladies. We're too close to the front." The Doctor ordered.

"I AM NOT LEAVING KIRBY!" Alex said, gasping for breath, and reaching, Caje knew, for a gun.

He grabbed her arm. "Please don't shoot any of the Doctors, Alex. They're too hard to replace." He winked at her, as he eased the .45 from its holster. "What else ya got?"

"Beckley said she had knives in her boots." Lieutenant Palmer said, reaching to unlace one of Alex's moccasins. Caje just grinned at Alex and unlaced her other boot. He added the knife that Lieutenant Palmer handed him to his collection.

"Were you planning on taking on the entire German army?" The Doctor asked dryly.

"She already did." Caje said, and the look he gave the man made him back up a step.

They heard General Taggart yelling again, and two Doctors burst into the tent.

"Ladies first." One of them said, and then looked confused.

Caje took pity on him and pointed to Alex, and they whisked her into another section of the tent, that he assumed was for surgery.

"Caje?" Grady stuck his head in the tent. "You need to come with me."

Caje took another long look at Kirby and followed Grady outside. "Your squad -" he started.

"Hanley took my squad. The General told _me_ to look after you and Littlejohn." Grady looked sheepish for a second, then said, "Come on. The Chaplain took Jim to the showers. You'll feel better after you get cleaned up."

Caje knew they wouldn't let him stay with Saunders and Kirby, and he had promised Alex to look after Jimmy, so he dutifully followed Grady to the showers. The Chaplain was still reading aloud from his Bible, and Littlejohn was standing under the spray scrubbing the hell out of himself.

"Water's hot." He said to Caje with a half grin, and the scout realized he would be ok.

Caje hadn't even finished his shower when Grady re-appeared with a _tray_ , containing coffee and sandwiches, which he sat down next to the Chaplain.

"This is ham." Littlejohn said in shock.

"There's roast beef too." Grady said quickly. "The cook said he's got you some apple pie but it has to cool before he can cut it. General Taggart said for him to fix anything you wanted."

"This is _good."_ Littlejohn said, then he looked at Grady. "Did I ever get any mail?"

"Ahh, Littlejohn -" Grady stammered. He had thought that Lieutenant Hanley would be the one explaining about the mail, but General Taggart had told him he was to keep Caje and the giant happy, so - he took a deep breath. "Davidson stole it."

"SON OF A BITCH!" Littlejohn roared, then remembered the Chaplain and turned purple. "I'm sorry, sir." He stammered.

The Chaplain just shrugged. "Poor Davidson was a troubled soul."

At Caje's confused look, Grady said, "He got drunk and blew himself up."

Littlejohn looked a little shaken at that, and Grady said quickly, "Beckley said that you had a cake and some stuff from your lady before Christmas. Your family didn't forget you. I'm sorry Davidson stole it, but it's gone."

"Was it Davidson who put Kirby on the KIA list?" Caje asked.

"WHAT?" Grady looked at him in shock.

"They told poor Alex that he was dead." Littlejohn said shakily, and blinked hard. "I don't really think she tried to kill herself, do you Caje?"

"I don't know." Caje answered, wondering why he was so damn tired.

"Let's get you settled. You need to rest." The Chaplain said.

Caje sat down on his cot and started unlacing his boots. "Grady, you'll let me know as soon as we know about Kirby and Alex?"

"Chip looked pretty bad too." Grady said shakily, as he pulled Caje's boots off for him.

"I think the Sarge is ok. He just lost a heck of a lot of blood." Littlejohn said, covering his mouth as he yawned. "Do you think they'll tell us how the other ladies are?" He looked worried for just a second before his eyes closed.

….

McCall hadn't really paid any attention when they'd dumped a soldier into the bed next to him an hour or so earlier. The guy had his entire head and half his face swathed in bandages, as well as both his feet.

"Danny?" A confused voice asked, and he saw Alex staggering thru the tent door. "Danny, you're not dead!" She grinned at him, leaned over and gave him a somewhat sloppy kiss, and then handed the BAR she had in her hand to the soldier next to him, who was tossing restlessly. He instantly slid his hands down the barrel and shut up. Then she crawled in the bed too, and McCall realized it was Kirby.

"NOT ONE WORD." Beckley growled, when he saw the other guys shifting in their beds in shock.

"Alex!" Lieutenant Palmer burst into the tent, and stopped when she saw her stretched out with Kirby. Her eyes filled with tears for just a minute, and then she snapped, "Since some _idiot_ saw fit to tell this poor woman that her husband was dead, I'm going to leave her right here for now."

"That will be fine." Beckley said, shooting an icy glare around the room. "I'm sure that everyone will be gentlemen and be quiet."

Some orderlies came in with Saunders on a stretcher and put him in the last bed in the aisle, next to Beckley. "Shit." The Sergeant said, almost to himself. "How bad is he hurt?" he hadn't thought about Saunders being injured himself. He'd assumed he was involved in a lengthy de-briefing.

As Lieutenant Palmer supervised the orderlies tying Saunders arms down, she said, "This _is_ Saunders you're asking about." At the look on Beckley's face, "I have chased the man thru the hospital more times than I care to count when he should not have been out of bed. I AM NOT having him pull his IV or these stitches out. He should be just fine if he listens and stays in bed."

….

"You decide to rejoin the living?" A familiar voice asked, as Saunders tried to blink himself awake.

"The girls?" Saunders gasped. "My squad." He looked at Beckley worriedly.

"The ladies came thru their surgery and are doing as well as can be expected. They're still afraid that Miss Tavish is going to lose her arm." Beckley shifted in his bed. "Alex is right there." Pointing at her asleep in a chair between Kirby and McCall's beds.

"How long have I been out?" Saunders looked at his tied down arms.

"Three days." Beckley grinned at him.

"Three days?" Saunders choked.

"I imagine you would like some water." A voice said briskly, and Lieutenant Palmer reached and untied one of his hands, and helped him into a sitting position. She helped him drink from a glass. "Enough?"

He managed to nod his head, looked at her questioningly when she re-tied his arm.

"Sergeant, I am already chasing Alex all over the camp. I've given her a free pass, considering. You don't get one." She tried to glare at him, but didn't quite succeed. "Thank you for getting them back."

"Yes ma'am." Saunders managed, wondering why he was still so exhausted.

He only dimly registered when a Doctor came in and checked him out and an orderly fed him some soup. He was appalled that he didn't have the strength to feed himself, and more appalled, when he discovered he was wearing a _diaper._


	3. Chapter 3

KIA Chapter 3

"That leg has to come off." A voice said.

Saunders blinked himself awake, sweating. He'd had a nightmare. Another horrid one. At least Steiner hadn't appeared this time.

"NO!" an anguished voice cried out.

Saunders slowly realized that the nightmare was someone else's. He was just caught up in it. He glanced at Beckley, saw that the man looked like he was going to be sick himself. And then Saunders realized that it was McCall that was yelling, his voice fraught with pain and fear.

"Leave him alone!" Alex said, staggering to her feet from the chair where she'd been asleep.

"Oh, hell." Saunders said, realizing he was still tied down, and that Alex definitely had a weapon, and would have no qualms about shooting Dr. Brown, who was universally hated and called "The Butcher."

"Beck, untie me!" he hissed.

"Blondie, this doesn't concern you." Alex said, not even glancing his way.

"Get this man into surgery." Doctor Brown said again.

"NO." Alex said. She still hadn't produced a weapon, but she had her hand in her coat pocket and Saunders knew she was holding a gun.

The orderlies both looked warily at Alex and backed off. They had more sense than the Doctor did.

"Al, honey, I'm sorry I can't get up and kick his butt for you." Kirby said weakly. "But please don't shoot him. They'll court martial you. Even if you are a woman. Bull can't save you from everything."

"It's ok, Alex." McCall said, biting his lip and blinking back tears.

"Hell, lady, walk your gun over here, and I'LL shoot him!" A man from one of the middle beds called. "I'm gut shot. They can't kill me twice!"

"I'll shoot him." Another man, who was closer, offered, reaching out a hand to Alex.

"Alex, what are you doing?" A male voice asked from the door, and Saunders breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the man was an older, white haired Doctor.

"Fix Danny." She said, pointing with her left hand. "Please."

"He's not my patient." The Doctor said politely. "I just came to check on you."

" _Fix Danny."_ She said again, her voice breaking. "You _have_ to fix Danny. You put Patty back together, surely you can -" she started crying.

"Okay." The man said, striding briskly to McCall's bed, and unwrapping the dressing from his leg. He looked for just a second, then snapped to the two orderlies who were still standing by, "Get this man into surgery now."

"Oh, God." McCall said, his voice cracking.

"I'm not going to take it off." The Doctor looked at McCall. "I'll do the best I can, but I'm not making any promises. It may have to come off later. And I won't lie to you. It will be a bitch to get thru."

"Okay." McCall said, gritting his teeth. "Thank you, sir."

Alex leaned over and kissed his forehead. "We're all rooting for you." She whispered.

Only after they had carried him out of the room did she lay her head on Kirby's shoulder and cry. Kirby put his hand in her hair and shed a few tears himself.

….

Alex was sitting between Kirby and McCall's beds, holding Danny's hand. He had come thru the surgery well and the Doctor who had replaced Brown was optimistic that he would keep his leg. He still slept most of the time though.

They'd shoved Kirby and Beckley's beds together and the squad was playing a somewhat heated game of poker. What surprised the Sarge was that Kirby _wasn't_ cheating.

"How is everyone?" Lieutenant Hanley asked as he stepped thru the door. He couldn't figure out why Alex was holding McCall's hand, but Kirby didn't seem the least bit upset by it.

"Want to play a hand, Lieutenant?" Caje asked, starting to get up. Hanley looked like absolute hell. He hadn't cleaned up or shaved, and he didn't appear to have slept either.

"No thank you." Hanley said, gritting his teeth. Well there was no way around it. He could not put this off until Saunders was better. The Sergeant still looked terrible.

"I made a mistake." Hanley said, and cleared his throat hard. "I had Brockmeyer as my clerk for so long, and he was the salt of the earth. And I just assumed that Davidson would be glad to be off the line and have an easy job. Kirby, I'm sorry."

Kirby looked at him in confusion, and Hanley continued, "He put your name on the KIA list."

"Wait a minute." Kirby said, looking at Alex, who was starting to cry. "They told you -" he stopped, "They told my mama I's dead? They told Ruthie?" The horror on his face was gut wrenching.

"Western Union couldn't find them to deliver the telegram, so they had the Red Cross check. The neighbors said that Ruthie got in an altercation with some thugs, and the next day she was gone."

"They _killed_ her?" Kirby all but screamed.

"NO! NO!" Hanley said, realizing he'd worded it wrong. "They said she beat up two thugs."

"My sister is a little tiny thing. She's smaller than Alex. She couldn't -"

"I'm sorry, Kirby. The bowling alley was boarded up and nobody seemed to know where your Uncle had gone either."

"What about Mrs. Kopacheck?" Kirby asked in bewilderment.

"Mrs. Kopacheck!" Alex looked at him in shock.

"Oh, hell, I guess you knew Eddie." Kirby said miserably.

"Your _sister_ is the Ruthie who was engaged to Eddie?" Alex choked. "I don't - I don't believe it! _You're_ the BAR man that Eddie wanted to fix me up with?" Tears were streaming down her face.

Kirby reached and caught her free hand. "They couldn't find any of my family?" He asked Hanley tiredly.

"Ruthie and Mrs. Kopacheck are at the ranch." Alex said quickly. "I promised Eddie that I would look after them."

Kirby looked at her strangely for a minute, and then he said, "Ruthie milks the cow." *

"Yeah, she probably does. That's one of the easier jobs they would have given her." She took a deep shaky breath, "My Dad took all my mail. I didn't get your letter. I didn't get _any_ of your letters until they were partially burnt. I thought you were dead, and -" she stopped, looked at all the guys with tears in her eyes. "I kind of lost my mind for awhile."

"Captain West -" Hanley started. Well the woman couldn't hate him anymore than she already did. Anymore than he hated himself right now. He had let Sally down when she needed him, and where in the hell was Jackson? Alex _could not_ keep associating with enlisted men, no matter what General Taggart said, or did. All some brass with a chip on their shoulder had to do, was catch Kirby holding her hand, and he could be shot -

" _Corporal Kirby!"_ Alex snapped at Hanley.

"Huh?" Kirby looked at her in shock.

"I resigned my commission. I don't give a damn about the Army, and I didn't want you getting court martialed again."

"You - you _what?"_ Kirby gulped, then almost whispered, "You knew about the first time?"

"Darling, I know _everything."_ Alex said, and the look on her face was frightening, for just a second.

" _What_ did you do?" Kirby demanded.

"I might tell you after we get home, when _I_ can't get court martialed." She grinned at him, "But since you brought it up, I really need to thank Blondie and Caje."

"Alex -" Saunders started. All the guys had developed an easy camaraderie with her since they'd spent so much time together. He wasn't even _supposed_ to speak to her, much less call her by her first name.

At the same time, Caje said, "He would have done the same for me."

"Well, _Corporal Kirby,_ Carry On." Hanley said, and he almost smiled, before he exited the tent.

….

Alex was walking next to McCall's stretcher, holding his hand, and crying. Danny was talking quietly to her.

"I should let her go." Kirby said miserably. "She loves _him."_

Littlejohn cuffed him in the shoulder so hard he would have fallen if Caje hadn't grabbed him.

"She loves _all_ of us, you stupid Irishman!" Caje snapped, even though he kept hold of Kirby so that he wouldn't fall.

"Knock it off." Saunders growled. He didn't know what in the hell was wrong with him. He couldn't stay awake and it had taken all the strength he had to walk out here to see McCall off. He was afraid that he was going to have to ask Littlejohn to carry him back in. He _was not_ going to collapse in front of Alex and upset her any farther.

McCall was being shipped back to England, and while he was recovering, he had a nice safe _desk_ job, no doubt procured by General Taggart. Nelson was on his way home already. At least two of his squad would make it, Saunders reflected. He didn't know where in the hell Doc was, or if he'd ever see him again. And that just _hurt._

Alex kissed Danny very gently, and touched her hand to his face. Saunders figured that she knew she'd never see him again. She stood and waved good bye with the guys until the ambulance was out of sight. Then she threw her arms around Kirby and started sobbing.

"Oh, hell, honey. I'm sorry." Kirby said, shooting a glance at Caje that told his buddy he wasn't sure he could hold them both up.

"Littlejohn, could you help me please?" Saunders asked. He didn't have the strength to bark at anyone.

Littlejohn looked shocked, but he slid a strong arm around the Sarge's waist and they started to head back into the hospital tent.

"Nobody miss me?" A cheerful voice asked, and Saunders froze.

"DOC!" Alex all but tackled him. If Caje and Kirby hadn't each reached out and grabbed one of his arms, they would have ended up in the dirty snow.

"It's ok, Alex." Doc said, ruffling her hair. "Patty's doing well. Sally's arm is starting to heal." He cleared his throat, looked at Saunders. "I knew I had to get back before they gave my job to somebody else." What he _didn't_ say, was that General Taggart had offered him a safe hospital job, well behind the lines, and he'd turned him down.

"Good to see you, Doc." Saunders said, his voice gruff with emotion, and then he turned so that they couldn't see his face.

"Sarge? What's wrong?" Littlejohn asked worriedly.

"Get me inside." Saunders said thru clenched teeth. "I don't want to pass out in front of Alex. I don't think she can take anymore."

Littlejohn all but picked him up and hustled him in the tent. "Lieutenant Palmer!" he called, as he laid Saunders in his bed. "There's something wrong with the Sarge!"

One of the Doctors who had taken over from Brown, went to work on Saunders. "He needs some blood." He said.

Littlejohn immediately started to roll up his sleeve.

"NO." Saunders gasped out.

When the Doctor gave him a disgusted look, he whispered, "He passes out. He's too big - it takes " and then his eyes closed.

"That's ok." Littlejohn said, looking at the Doctor. "I'll lie down. I won't get up until you tell me I can."

"What's wrong?" Doc asked, spying the Doctor bent over Saunders. At the same time he noticed Littlejohn's rolled up sleeve. "NO." he said, gently pushing the giant out of the way. "You need some blood, Caje and I can give." He told the Doctor.

Saunders only dimly realized the prick of the needle. Later, as he drifted in and out of consciousness, it felt like mass confusion all around him.

…

"Sarge?" Littlejohn's voice, as the giant carefully picked him up. "I need you to sit up and try and eat some breakfast. Think you can do that?"

Saunders tried to nod, as a kid, who looked like he couldn't be fourteen years old, tried to push a pillow behind his back. " _He lied about his age to enlist."_ Saunders thought tiredly. He would have to get Hanley to do something about it -

"Can you eat some oatmeal?" Alex asked him, sitting down on the floor next to him, and that's when he realized that his bed was gone and he was on a pallet.

"Yeah." He gritted out, looking around and seeing that the already crowded hospital was now jammed full of men, most of them on pallets on the floor.

"I hope you're awake enough to listen." She said quietly as she fed him a spoonful. "Everything has gone to sugar. We've had an influx of wounded -" A shell hit nearby. _Far too close._ She nearly dropped oatmeal on him, but barely managed to get it in his mouth. "We're gonna be overrun. Littlejohn brought you your Tommy." She bumped it against him with her hip. He glanced around the hospital and saw that all the wounded who were the least bit capable were holding rifles and looking worried. Kirby had his bandaged feet jammed into a pair of boots that were too large for him, and was caressing his BAR. A Corporal with a bandaged head was sitting on Beckley's bed, going over a map with him.

"Beckley's leg has to be elevated. That's why he still has a bed." Alex said, then looked at him like she didn't even know why she'd said it. "The guys all want to fight. Beckley said the Krauts would kill everybody anyway, and I think he's right. "

"Caje?" Saunders choked out, fearing the scout was dead.

"He's helping outside." Alex said. There was no point in telling Saunders that an ambulance driver and a medic had died trying to get wounded to the hospital. Caje and Doc had taken over their jobs. The Doctors had been operating on wounded soldiers for ten hours straight. The shelling kept getting closer, and it was only a matter of time.

Beckley had Littlejohn relaying radio messages for him, and they were waiting on permission to evacuate. Alex had decided that if she lived thru this, she was going to go slap whoever had abandoned them here's face. She thought Lieutenant Palmer was going to murder somebody, she was so furious. The guys had been looking at maps, whispering among themselves, and passing notes around that all eventually made their way back to Beckley, courtesy of the Corporal with the head wound.

They heard the whistling of an incoming shell and Alex threw herself on top of Saunders. He managed to wrap his arms around her and cussed the fact that he was helpless. Alex was willing to give her life to save him. He didn't like that one little bit. The shell sounded like it exploded directly outside the tent, and Saunders heard Littlejohn and someone else yelling. He felt Alex cringing, and then she slowly raised up, and looked at him with tears in her eyes. "You need to eat." She managed. "I have other soldiers to feed."

"That kid -" Saunders choked out.

Alex saw where he was looking. "He's fourteen and he's one of the cook's helpers. And he's more scared than I am. Lieutenant Palmer told him that he was to guard us, and I think he wet his pants. I'll get him down in a ditch if I have to hogtie him and sit on him."

"Okay." Saunders managed. He didn't want the oatmeal, wasn't hungry, but he didn't know if he'd ever get another meal. He ate so that Alex could go and feed other men. He had no idea if he'd be able to crawl _anywhere_ when the time came.

He drifted back to sleep, and loud cussing woke him up. At first he thought it was Alex, but then he realized that it was Lieutenant Palmer. Beckley was grinning from ear to ear, but everyone else was cringing. The two orderlies that the nurse was berating looked like they wanted to crawl thru the floor, and one of them started crying. She didn't back off one inch, and Saunders wondered what in the hell they had done. He feared they might have accidently killed someone, and the nurse was going to murder them.

He saw the kid catch Alex's arm, and whisper to her, and the two of them went outside. A few seconds later, Alex came back in, and took some pillows from some of the wounded that were closest to the door.

"Ah, _shit!"_ Saunders thought. That shell must have hit somebody, and they were trying to make them comfortable outside. The way that Littlejohn had been yelling - it _couldn't_ have been him. He swallowed hard, fearing the oatmeal was going to come back up.

A few minutes later, he saw brake lights, and then an ambulance backed expertly up to the door of the tent.

Alex wedged herself between the tent flap and the ambulance. "Lieutenant Palmer, I've got you a driver!" she yelled.

"Who'd you find?" the nurse demanded.

"Me." The kid said, appearing behind Alex. "I can drive anything, ma'am."

"He can." Alex said, when the nurse started to object. "I watched him jockey it thru the camp, and then he backed right to the door in one shot. He just needed some pillows to sit on so he could reach the clutch. I'll ride shotgun with him so I can help him if he needs it."

Littlejohn squeezed thru the door behind them. "Ma'am, we've gotta move if we're going." He said to Lieutenant Palmer. "The radio's gone -"

"LOAD UP!" she yelled.

"Kirby, Saunders - " Alex pointed them out to the orderlies.

"I want you to be the middle truck so we can help you if something goes wrong." Beckley said to Alex and the kid. "Littlejohn will bring up the rear. If we lose him, we keep going. UNDERSTOOD?"

"Yes sir." The kid said, looking green.

Lieutenant Palmer drove the first ambulance with Beckley riding shotgun. Her passengers included two of the severely wounded, the gut shot man and a Corporal who had lost a leg. The gut shot man had a wife and four kids. The Corporal had a new baby that he had never seen. The guys had voted on who would go and who would stay. Neither of her wounded were happy to be leaving their buddies but they quit complaining when Beckley told him that he expected them to guard the women with their lives. The most experienced of the nurses rode in the back with them.

The youngest nurse, a farm girl from Iowa, who handled a rifle almost as well as Alex, rode shotgun with Littlejohn in the last ambulance. She'd insisted, and they'd let her. Of course, Alex had no intention of abandoning anyone, and she figured that Lieutenant Palmer wouldn't either, no matter what Beckley said.

The two orderlies had volunteered to stay. They were more afraid of Lieutenant Palmer than they were the Krauts.

…

"Hey, Sarge." A familiar voice said, and he looked over to see Caje in the bed next to him.

When Caje saw the fear in Saunders eyes, he said, "I'm not shot. I just gave you some blood, and they said I had to stay in bed awhile. Can't upset Alex." He winked.

"The hospital?' Saunders choked out. So many brave, wounded men had been left behind. He'd started to protest until Beckley, who was in charge, had blasted other soldiers who complained. Beck hadn't wanted to leave them either.

"Lieutenant Hanley and Hall and Grady's squads managed to hold the Krauts off until reinforcements got there. The hospital didn't get hit. That kid that you were worried about is fine. They stuck him in motor pool. He can fix anything and he didn't want to go home. Alex said to be sure and tell you."

"Where _is_ she?" Saunders managed.

"She and Kirby and Lieutenant Palmer and Sergeant Beckley went on furlough."

"Has Beck lost his damn mind?" Saunders whispered. That could get him court martialed.

"Lieutenant Palmer is Alex's nurse. Sergeant Beckley is her bodyguard." Caje said, grinning.

Well, anyone who tried to tangle with Alex _and_ Lieutenant Palmer would have better luck going after a Panzer division by themselves. Trust Alex to bend the rules. In spite of himself, Saunders started laughing.

Kirby's Carol


End file.
